The high school debate programs at Niles Township School District 219 didn’t escape school board-approved budget cuts this year, but a national triumph recently secured by the debate team at Niles West High School is evidence that academic success was still possible.
Despite losing $12,500 in funding this school year as part of $25,000 in total cuts the school board made to the debate programs at Niles West and Niles North High Schools, two sophomores on the junior varsity division at Niles West won the 2016 national championship on March 20 for second-year policy debaters.
The students who secured the win, Nathan Glancy of Niles and Nasim Salehitezangi of Lincolnwood, scored high enough to beat the 38 other teams from seven different states that competed in the National Championships tournament hosted by Woodward Academy in College Park, Ga.
Niles West debate coach Eric Oddo described Glancy and Salehitezangi as one of the most successful debate duos he’s had in the club’s six-year history. Oddo helped reinstate the debate club after it was defunct for more than 10 years following the departure of the former teacher who ran the program.
“It’s a fantastic year for them as sophomores,” Oddo said. “The funding cuts took out a few tournaments for us, but we’re thankful that we still had enough funding to make it to the national championships.”
The win was made even more special, Glancy said, because three of the four teams pitted against Niles West in the final rounds of the competition were private schools that had better access to funding.
“Debate is largely governed by the private schools, so it’s awesome that our school’s program allows us to travel all the way across the country to compete against some of these other teams,” Glancy said.
With annual tuition in the $30,000 range, the private schools beat by Niles West included Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart from Miami, Fla., Greenhill School near Dallas, and the University of Chicago Laboratory School. Cabot High School from Arkansas was the other public school that made it to the final rounds, according to Oddo.
“It shows that kids can succeed, no matter what background they come from,” Oddo said. “I think it’s important for kids to know, that it’s possible even if they don’t have the means to attend private schools.”
With more than two years of high school left and new opportunities on the horizon to compete for even more prestigious national titles at the varsity level, Glancy and Salehitezangi are planning to hone their debate skills this summer at the University of Michigan’s summer debate camp, which they both landed scholarships for. For six weeks starting in June, they’ll spend up to 14 hours per day practicing research and oral arguments with other high school students from throughout the U.S
This will be their second summer in a row spent at debate camp, according to the students.
“It’s less like a camp, but more like a community where you meet people from all over the country,” Salehitezangi said. “It’s cool because you make tons of new friends who you get to see later in the year at competitions—some people might think it seems boring but it’s actually really fun.”
Popularity of the debate program has reached all-time highs since the school district started offering debate class as one of four courses that meet a public speaking course requirement that was instituted four years ago, according to Oddo.
Of course, some students leave debate after fulfilling the mandated course requirement, but other kids who end up taking a liking to thrill of winning an oral argument choose to stick around and become part of the after school debate program.
“The public speaking requirement has exposed more kids to debate, and it’s now more popular than it was before,” Oddo said. “It fluctuates, but we’re definitely not losing any students.”
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Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.