The Barrington High School debate team is off to a strong start in its first two tournaments of the season.  

The first tournament of the season, held last month, was hosted by Cumberland High School, with students from six area schools attending.

Barrington captured three of the top five varsity team awards: Chelsea Duncan and Kate Mellen (#3), Franny Johnson and Amelia Taylor (#4), and Audrey Adams and Kendal Bazerman (#5).

Barrington also won two of the top five varsity awards for individual speaker: Dawen Cheng (#4) and Kendal Bazerman (#5).

Three of the top five awards for novice speaker went to Barrington students William Sturla (#1), Gaige Battersby (#3) and Katherine Yang (#5).

Many other Barrington students also placed in the tournament, scoring in the top 25 percent of all debaters.

Individual speaker awards for varsity debaters went to Chelsea Duncan, Perry Davis, and Audrey Adams, and the following varsity teams were also recognized: Dawen Cheng and CC West, and Perry Davis and Sonya Pareek. 

Individual novice debater awards included Giovanni Malpartida, Lana Alsahli, Karthik Mitta, Christopher Johnson, and Henry Humphreys.

Several novice teams also received recognition: Mitta and Sturla, Battersby and Malpartida, Josie Lamb and Yang, and Lana Alsahli and Christopher Johnson.

On Dec. 10, the BHS debate hosted a tournament, competing against eight area schools.

Barrington won three of the top five varsity team awards: Davis and Pareek (#1), Franny Johnson and Taylor (#3), and Zayan Azman and Maddox Godwin (#4).

Barrington also won two of the top five varsity individual speaker awards: Sang Min Park (#4) and Pareek (#5).

For the novice debaters, top team awards went to Briella Weimer and Iris Yang (#3) and Shannon Capozza and Eva Desjarlais (#5), while Eilidh Thomson (#2) and Echo Dhillon (#3) took home top individual speaker awards.

Several other Barrington varsity teams placed in the top 25 percent, including Sophia Ford and Maude Smith-Montross, Adams and Bazerman, and Jane Bryant and Priya Gottlieb. Ford, Godwin, Adams, Taylor, and Davis were recognized as individual speakers.

Many additional novice debaters were recognized for their performance. The teams of Alsalhi and Christopher Johnson, Anna Chang and Dhillon, Alexandra Ford and Thomson, and Mitta and Sturla received awards, while Sturla, Eva Desjarlais, Lillian Weinstein, Anna Chang, Aislinn McCoy, Weimer, and Alexandra Ford were recognized as individual speakers.