Trying to Argue Their Way Into Harvard

Did you set foot anywhere near the Yard this past weekend? If so, then you probably saw the crowds of dressed-up high school kids scampering around taking photos, playing football, and reveling in Harvard’s grandeur. Of course, none of these fawning high schoolers could have been mistaken for one of us world-weary college students facing the fourth week of psets and paper deadlines.

So why were they here? To prove their mettle in the fierce competition of the 36th Annual Harvard National High School Invitational Forensics Tournament—and perhaps boost their resumes so that one day they too might be able to march through Boylston gate as proud students. (Maybe you were once one of them.)

Held from Feb. 13-15, the tournament consisted of five sub-tournaments: the policy debate competition, the public forum competition, speech competitions, the Lincoln-Douglas competition, and the Harvard National Student Congress.

With some competitors flying for 14 hours from Alaska to partake in this clash of intellects, the competition was a true reflection of the oratory skill of the nation’s best high school students. Seul “Kathy” Ku ’13, who judged the policy debate rounds held at at the Student Organization Center at Hilles, told us that the elimination rounds, in which 32 of the best teams of the competition challenged each other, were “really close.”

Yet in the end, only a few teams and individuals could take home trophies . For the full results and ballots for all the rounds (and perhaps to reminisce about your storied high school past), click here.

Correction: Feb. 20, 2010

An earlier version of this post referred incorrectly to the Lincoln-Douglas competition as the Lincoln-Douglass competition.