On Nov. 16, teams from Jefferson’s Lincoln Douglas and Public Forum debate teams went to Westfield High School to attend the second of the five annual Washington Arlington Catholic Forensic League (WACFL) debate tournaments.

Many people new to debate also attended this tournament, one of whom was sophomore Abhi Chadha, who competed in Lincoln Douglas.

“As a novice, I definitely felt nervous going in,” Chadha said. “But, as the day went on, I felt that I was more prepared because I was a lot more comfortable. Overall, it was a great, however tiring, day and I will definitely go to the future ones and hope to advance.”

Both debate teams performed extremely well, taking many awards in their respective divisions.

In Lincoln Douglas debate sophomores Srijith Poduval and Prerana Katiyar placed first and third respectively at the junior varsity level, while juniors Siddarth Anand and Ruhee Shah placed fifth and sixth respectively in varsity.

In Public Forum debate freshmen Shiraz Chokshi and Rohan Suri placed fifth in junior varsity, while sophomores Valerie Chen and Kevin Xu placed sixth in varsity.

“It was good to know all the hard work paid off,” Xu said. “Originally we were cut and we had already done a lot of work so it was disappointing, but in the end we got to go and we qualified for Metros, so I’m really excited.”

The students who placed in both forms of debate qualified for an extra tournament outside of the regular season known as Metrofinals which includes the best debaters from all five WACFL tournaments.

The teams that won at WACFL 2 have been preparing for a very long time,” junior Pegah Moradi, the teaching coordinator for Public Forum, said. “I’m incredibly proud of their accomplishments. I think we’ll have a great season and lots of teams will qualify for Metros.”

However, in addition to competing against other schools from across the area, many Jefferson students believe that debate is just a way to have fun.

“I enjoyed meeting and befriending people from all the different schools,” sophomore Jake Cui said. “I also learned how to take multiple views on a single topic which can also be applied in real life.”