The upper school speech and debate team attended the Glenbrooks speech and debate tournament in Illinois from Nov. 17 through Nov. 20.

A total of 26 Harker students competed in this tournament in Congressional, Lincoln-Douglas and policy debate. The tournament consisted of four rounds for speech and six for debate.

Among the students that attended, Nathan Ohana (9) placed in semifinals in Congressional debate. In oratory, Nikhil Dharmaraj (11) made it to the semifinals and Avi Gulati (10) received third place. Additionally, Jacob Ohana (12) and Alan Hughes (12) qualified to quarterfinals in policy debate.

The Glenbrooks tournament was one of the largest and most difficult tournaments that the upper school speech and debate team attended this year. Around 307 schools from 37 states competed.

“For each part of the team, different tournaments are really important. Glenbrooks happens to be one of the only tournaments that are important in all of our events,” Speech and Debate Teacher Scott Odekirk said. “Glenbrooks is kind of like a culminating tournament for the first semester for all of our kids, so it’s a really big deal. In some events it’s the hardest, some it’s not, but it’s the most difficult tournament that has high-level competition for all the events.”

Despite the difficult competition, students felt that Glenbrooks helped them improve in their speech and debate skills.

“Seeing the competitors and learning from their different styles and how they perform and how they speak makes us better because watching them also gives us tips for ourselves,” speech team member Rhea Nanavati (9) said. “Since the competition was so good, we know exactly what does well and how we can improve our oratory pieces.”

The team’s next tournament is a league tournament, which will be at Cupertino High School this Sunday in preparation for the Arizona state tournament on Jan. 5.