Piper 'irons' out a pair of wins in MHHS Debate Club opener

Senior captain takes first twice; McMillan-Noonan duo places in debut

By Mike Rego
Posted 11/19/24

The Mt. Hope High School Debate Club squad vied in its initial Rhode Island Forensic League tournament of the 2024-25 term on Saturday, Nov. 16, at Classical High in Providence. The MHHS group …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Piper 'irons' out a pair of wins in MHHS Debate Club opener

Senior captain takes first twice; McMillan-Noonan duo places in debut

Posted

The Mt. Hope High School Debate Club squad vied in its initial Rhode Island Forensic League tournament of the 2024-25 term on Saturday, Nov. 16, at Classical High in Providence.

The MHHS group competed against dozens of other student-debaters representing 12 clubs from schools around the state.

Mt. Hope senior captain Millie Piper entered the tournament as an “Iron Woman,” meaning she debated as an individual against teams of two at the varsity level. Piper won first place in both the team/tandem event and as an individual, which advisor Neale Ross called "an extraordinary feat for parliamentary debate."

"Millie is not only an exceptional debater, but she is also an extraordinary leader and mentor to her teammates," Ross, a Social Studies teacher at MHHS, added.

In addition, every member of the Mt. Hope club won or tied at least one of the three rounds in which they debated.

As well, sophomore duo of Addison McMillan and Vivienne Noonan placed eighth in the novice team competition, winning all three rounds.

Ross termed their effort "a massive achievement, especially when you consider these students were debating for the first time ever at the high school level."

Of Mt. Hope's performance overall at the Classical competition, Ross said, "This is a young team, mostly made up of freshmen who were competing in their very first high school tournament...I couldn't be prouder of this team and look forward to building on our success at our next tournament."

Mt. Hope actually hosts the next RIFL tournament on Saturday morning, Dec. 14, beginning at 9 o'clock. The event takes place all over the building with over 50 debates taking place throughout the day.

2025 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.