After a season of hard work, the Greenhill Debate team qualified to compete at the Texas Forensic Association state tournament. 

Hosted in Portland, Texas, the team will travel down to the in-person tournament, which is being held from March 9 through March 12. To qualify, an individual needs to get 10 points, which can be achieved by going farther into debate tournaments, and more points are allotted if it is a bigger tournament. 

In the case of senior Ashley Shan, this tournament is not new to her, as this is her fourth time competing. At the state tournament, Shan will participate in World Schools Debate, a style of debate where each team has three to five members. In World Schools, there are two types of debates. One is impromptu, where students are given an hour to research a topic. The other is prepared rounds, and the teams know and can prepare for a specific topic.

For Shan, she is excited to compete in person, as most of the tournaments this year have been online. 

“It is pretty different from what we’ve been doing all year and last year because we have been competing online. I think it’s going to take some practice rounds, and practice in general, in order for us to get back into debating in-person, but I’m looking forward to being able to see people and actually being able to interact with them.”