With the help of administration, Mr. Baez, and our maintenance staff, Columbus was able to host 9 debaters on campus. This tournament hosted 177 schools and 1,086 students from 31 different states plus a Taiwanese team. Despite our small presence of only 11 debaters, we had 2 advance to elimination rounds and another 3 missed quarterfinals by tiebreaker. These students were:

 

Nicholas Gonzalez SO – Lincoln-Douglas debate (Nicolas went 4 -1 in the prelim rounds which by his own account included the “best round [he] ever debated.”)

Noah Sastoque SR – Congressional debate (this was the first time in his three year history with the team that Noah advanced to semis)

 

The World Schools team fell short of Quarterfinals:

Javi Hidalgo-Gato

Gabriel Llerena

Hans Bendixen (his improvement is remarkable, as he is only 6 months into debate yet has had little trouble punching above his weight class)

 

We wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for the team overall, so please take time in your classes to acknowledge the following students for their enthusiasm and hardwork over the weekend:

 

Marcelo Andreu

Ryan McMillan

Jan Andretta

Justin Marimon

Adrian Noy

Alan Munchy

 

A special thanks goes out to Columbus parent and cardiologist Mike Diaz, as well as alumn Alejandro Hernandez (’11) who spoke to our debaters over the past few weeks about the Healthcare Industry and Latin American – Chinese business and investment, respectively. Their contribution to our debaters topic preparation has been invaluable so far.