On Saturday, October 7, 2017, the Philadelphia Catholic Forensics League (PCFL) officially commenced their season with a speech and debate tournament hosted at none other than The Hill School, a rare occurrence considering the remoteness of Hill from other interleague competition.

Teams from 12 regional high schools, aside from members of the Hill forensics program, attended the event, consisting of students from the Academy at Palumbo; Bishop Shanahan High School; Downingtown STEM Academy; Holy Ghost Preparatory School; La Salle College High School; Pennsbury High School; Perkiomen Valley High School; St. Joseph’s Preparatory School; Strath Haven High School; Truman High School; Unionville High School; and William Tennent High School. 

After approximately an hour of team check-in and registration, the tournament began with Dr. Joshua Schmidt, Athey family master of science and head advisor of Hill Forensics, welcoming the influx of competitors.

The crowd soon dispersed, separating into several groups who would then be directed to a showcase – or a mock round of a speech or debate event, serving as an example to both judges and fellow competitors.

Following these showcases, which lasted approximately 45 minutes, tournament rounds officially began. 

Rounds of two-person Public Forum debate, which, although a relatively new form of debate, is typically regarded as the most popular event, were hosted in the Widener Science Building. 

The subject was the deployment of anti-ballistic missile systems in South Korea, a foreign policy topic which, while eliciting an indifferent reaction from some, is gaining much steam in both American and Korean newsrooms.

Rounds of Lincoln-Douglas debate, best described as the more insightful and philosophical, yet less popular cousin of Public Forum, were held in the Academic Building, along with the lesser-known Congressional and Policy debates and several speech events. 

At this tournament, the Lincoln-Douglas debaters were fiercely disputing the costs and benefits to compulsory national service, preparing a slew of John Locke and Immanuel Kant quotes to barrage their opponent.

Following three rounds of speech and debate (the penultimate and latter being separated to allocate time for lunch), and lengthy calculation and consultation by event organizers, results were presented in the Student Center of the Academic Building.

Hill Forensics, as the team was renamed by Schmidt in September, took on a younger look than in previous years, following the graduation of veteran debaters such as Edrees Feda ’17 and Manshesht Sharma ’17 in addition to the absence of experienced team members Shaariq Khan ’18, Daniel Yang ’18 and Richard Wang ’19 due to SAT testing.

However, the program, which has grown exponentially since its founding just over five years ago, experienced much success at the tournament, winning junior varsity Dramatic Performance speech and Lincoln-Douglas debate, and placing second in varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate and Public Forum debate. 

Esha Sharma ’20 finished in fourth-place in the junior varsity Public Forum event with her partner Adam Benzinane ’21. This was Sharma’s and Benzinane’s first-ever debate tournament.

“[At first,] it was very nerve-wracking, and I didn’t know what to expect from my opponents,” Sharma said. “In fact, I was mostly afraid of letting my team down.” 

Sharma says she sincerely enjoys forensics and she liked how in the end, the opponents shook hands and moved on.

After the event, members of the team said they enjoyed hosting a forensics tournament at Hill, although it required much preparation and clean-up. 

“It is personally very joyful for me to see Hill hosting a tournament,” said varsity Lincoln-Douglas debater Barry Wang ’20, who finished second in his event. “Hosting a debate [tournament] is a great way of inspiring more people into becoming interested in forensics.  Forensics may be a veil for many [to enjoy critical thinking], and we, as debaters and speakers, can help people to see the joy of having intellectual conversations.” 

Members of Hill Forensics certainly displayed their passion for the development of such intellectual conversations on campus that day, contriving a clearly effective formula for quality results.  This success of a tournament should propel the team to yet another exceptional season of critical thinking and successful communication.