The VHSL State Debate Tournament was held at James Madison University on Friday and Saturday April 22 and 23. Senior Kate Kirwan and Anish Aradhey both competed representing Harrisonburg High School.

In Student Congress, Aradhey debated and placed 4th in the state.

“Student congress is when before the tournament you write legislation and then get to read all the legislation that has been written by all the other students who are attending the congress. And then you will debate whether you as a student body should pass those pieces of legislation (or not). So I got fourth in the state in our class 5,” Aradhey said. 

In the Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Kirwan competed on both Friday April 22 and Saturday April 23. This was Kirwan’s last high school debate tournament.

“We had 5 debate rounds [in] total. I was pretty nervous going into it because the competition at super-regionals was really good. I was happy with my performance and tried to think about all the skills that Coach Cosner had taught me over the past four years and poured them into the tournament as I knew it would be my last one,” Kirwan said.

Kirwan took the win and placed first in the state.

“I ended up winning all five rounds which I was surprised about because I figured I lost at least one. It was a great way to leave my high school debate career and I’m really grateful for all of the community, knowledge and critical thinking skills that Cosner and the debate team provided me with,” Kirwan said.