Christopher Columbus High School

A Catholic School for Young Men in the Marist Tradition since 1958
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Debate Team Ends Season with Strong Finish at TOC

The seniors of the debate team solidified their place in Columbus Debate history with an outstanding showing at the 46th Annual Tournament of Champions at the University of Kentucky. 
The Tournament of Champions (TOC) is the most elite and prestigious tournament of the year, where students earn invitations by placing highly in the major tournaments throughout the season. Most programs throughout the country rarely ever qualify any students to this tournament, by qualifying three students to the tournament this year, Columbus Debate is considered in the upper echelon of debate programs nationwide.
 
Senior Thomas Barrera had a tremendous tournament, advancing to elimination rounds in both of his events (Dramatic Interpretation and Oral Interpretation). In Dramatic Interpretation, Tommy won his quarterfinal round before ending his run in the semifinals. In Oral Interpretation however, an event where students create a program combining pieces of prose and poetry to create a story they advocate, Tommy made Explorer history by becoming the third debater ever from Columbus to make it to the final round at the TOC! The previous two were Carlos Gonzalez in Lincoln-Douglas (Class of 1993) and Joseph Perretta in Student Congress (Class of 2009). Tommy ended the final round in 7th place with his riveting performance that brought one judge and a couple of audience members to tears with the power of his message.
 
Senior John Little III made it to the quarterfinal round of the very competitive event Humorous Interpretation. John and Tommy become the first Explorers to qualify to the tournament in speech events, since the tournament's founding.
 
Lastly, in Lincoln-Douglas debate, Senior Javier Navarrete had one of the toughest strengths of schedule at the tournament and finished with a 2-4 record debating about the merits of free expression on college campuses. Five of the six debaters Javi encountered ended up in elimination rounds, including two who ended up in the top 10 seeding overall.
 
Columbus was one of three Florida schools that qualified in the highly competitive Lincoln-Douglas debate division (Lake Highland Prep and Pembroke Pines Charter being the other two) and this is the first time since 2001 that Columbus had qualified to the TOC in Lincoln-Douglas debate.
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Christopher Columbus High School | 3000 SW 87 Avenue | Miami, FL 33165 | (305) 223-5650
Brotherhood, Faith, and Scholarship define the Marist Brothers Catholic education at Christopher Columbus High School.  By making Jesus Christ known and loved and creating an inspiring academic and extracurricular environment, we prepare young men for higher learning and a life-long commitment to leadership and service through Gospel and Marist values.

Columbus is fully accredited by Cognia and is a member of the Marist Association of Secondary schools, the National Catholic Education Association and the Independent Schools of South Florida.