After earning Jesuit’s best at the National Debate Coaches Association (NDCA) National Debate Tournament, Seniors Bennett Harrison ’15 and Adam Wiechman ’15 solidified their spots as two of the most decorated and accomplished debaters throughout their tenure at Jesuit. Both Bennett ’15 and Wiechman ’15 netted fifth place honors at the national competition hosted at UNLV’s campus from April 11th-13th.
On their way to the best finish for Jesuit at NDCA Nationals since 2011, Harrison and Wiechman posted a 5-1 record in the preliminary debates, defeating teams from Pace Academy (GA), CK McClatchy (CA), The Harker School (CA), New Trier High School (IL), and Rowland Hall-St. Mark’s School (UT). As the eighth seed in the elimination round, Harrison and Wiechman defeated Highland Park High School (MN) and the Blake School (MN) before succumbing in the quarterfinals to the 1st seed and eventual finalist, a second Blake School team, to earn fifth place. With their experience and confidence, the dynamic duo certainly impressed the nationwide competition; Harrison and Wiechman both earned 20th and 32nd place respectively in individual speaking awards out of a collection 164 high school students.
Teams earned a berth to the NDCA Championships through their performance at local, regional, and national tournaments over the entire school year. Jesuit qualified two other teams for the NDCA Championships, Senior Chandler Dawson and Junior Patrick Bender as well as Junior Joe Hall and Sophomore Jake Lorocco. In total, 82 teams from 17 states competed at the 4 day event.
Harrison ’15 claims that determination, especially “commitment to reasearch and strategizing arguments” leads to effective proficiency and persuasion, two traits required to be successful in debate. Secondly, Harrison thoroughly prepares for each debate tournament in order “to build up intellectual stamina” for individual rounds, each lasting two hours over the course of a day. Though over debate tournaments require over “8 hours in the heat of the moment,” Bennett has truly enjoyed his Jesuit Debate experience and continues to be “committed to knowing my debate skills them and helping others acquire the same knowledge.”
Adam Wiechman ’15, the partner of Harrison, also grew exponentially from his Jesuit Debate experience, especially in his last two years of high school, where debate became an earnest passion. Over the years, Adam has learned that anyone can join debate with determination and hardwork, but quite honestly, in [Wiechman’s opinion], “it has to be passionate for you if want to be very successful.” Adam has spent the majority of his free periods and weekends focusing on cutting cards for evidence, writing prepared arguments, and preparing for the upcoming weekend tournaments. After reflecting over his Jesuit Debate tenure, Wiechman came to the conclusion that “debate is really cool because you get out of it is directly proportional to how much you put into it.”
In Adam’s case, Harrison and Wiechman became not only great debate and study partners but also close friends inside and outside of the classroom. After interacting with Harrison over the past three years, Wiechman said his “best tournament memories with Bennett definitely are the moments behind the scenes. Every tournament had a unique characteristic or enjoyable moment; whether it’s Bennett telling Adam to shut up in the mini-van after my specialty, joking around in the pre-round prep, or making fun of the puns and crazy analogies that I make during my actual debate speeches, all torunaments became part of ‘truly awesome weekend experiences.'” However, in Wiechman’s view, the closeness and brotherhood within the Debate Team made up a core group of guys that include sophomores, juniors, and seniors, all added to “provided overall energy to the group.” Combined with this tight-knit community and the academic knowledge, Wiechman was able to put in 18-20 hours a week into the team simply because “he loved the experience.”
For their college plans,Harrison is deciding between the three liberal arts schools of Occidental College, Kenyon College, and Bennington College. Harrison gives credit to the Debate Program, “which has lead him to great high school success” while inspiring him to maintain academic excellence in college. Adam will attend Notre Dame in the fall, planning to pursue a double-major in chemical engineering and political science through a dual degree program that the university offers over five years. Wiechman also acknowledges his success in the skills learned in debate because, “without a doubt, debate has shaped my college pursuits.”
Even with several valuables seniors leaving for college, Jesuit Debate surely appears capable to maintain their excellent reputation from the past few years and look to make noise in 2016’s NDCA tourney. Please congratulate these debaters when you see them on both this successful tournament and their outstanding careers for Jesuit Debate!
