For the first time in 140 years, Palatine High School is hosting a debate tournament!

The “Walk the Plank” tournament is the culmination of enormous work and preparation, both on the parts of the members and coaches. For three days every week, the debate team meets after school for almost three hours, researching, writing, and, of course, debating.

At Palatine, there are two different forms of debate: Public Forum (PF), a partner event which focuses on current events, and Lincoln-Douglas (LD), a solo debate form which discusses issues of morality and ethics. Both the Public Forum and Lincoln-Douglas teams worked in conjunction with one another in order to facilitate this incredible event.

“I am extremely proud of the Morenos for taking a program that was so little to the school and reviving it,” says PF co-captain Keaton Silver of the two faculty advisers, Brenda Moreno and Alyssa Moreno.

“This first tournament sets the stage. It sets the stage for us to become more recognized, to show off what we can do.” Imani, the other PF co-captain, furthers, explaining, “It’s up to us to make a good name for Palatine. We’re hoping that this becomes an annual tournament, and I think we’ve put in a lot of work in making sure that this tournament is efficient and enjoyable.”

Alyssa Moreno elaborates: “We are looking forward to having our debaters represent the school this weekend and make a name for Palatine as they have been succeeding at doing all year. As a coach, I am anxious to make sure that everything runs smoothly so that we can continue this tournament in the future but I am confident in the team and their ability and I wish them all the best of luck.”

The team has even received huge assistance from the community. Brenda Moreno, one of the team’s coaches, discusses how appreciative she is of the kids and organizations that brought the tournament to life.

“As a coach, I feel super proud of my kids.” Moreno says. “They are such hard working people. This is only my second year at PHS and running our program, and we were able to host an event this large! I am so grateful to our debate parents, as well. They’ve been incredibly supportive not only of their own kids, but the program overall. They were able to get donations from local businesses for the event. I’m just overwhelmed by the amount of support we’ve received from everyone, including our neighboring schools (Fremd and Schaumburg) who are also helping us run this tournament.”

As a team, the debaters and their coaches have attended multiple tournaments at other schools throughout the year, learning and developing in anticipation of this one. The amount of effort each debater and coach put into this is nothing short of amazing. The next competition for the team is the state tournament, the most rigorous and difficult tournament of the year.

“I’m really proud of this debate team,” explains Anand Shah, the LD captain. “We’ve come such a long way, and I expect us to just keep growing under the guidance of our coaches, the Morenos.”