After competing in the National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) tournament in Chicago in May, Rik Chaudhuri ’26 and Jeffrey Hu ’26 qualified for a second national tournament held in mid-June in Des Moines, Iowa. The rising seniors were eager to be among the strongest student debaters attending the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) competition, the largest championship of its kind in the country. The tournament was celebrating its centennial year, and the boys and their parents could feel the extra excitement from participants —more than 6,000 high school students from 1,500 schools across the country.

Their topic in the Public Forum Debate was Resolved: On balance, in the United States, the benefits of presidential executive orders outweigh the harms. Of the 289 teams in their event, the pair placed among the top 25%, which qualified them for the elimination rounds. “My favorite moment was debating against the team that would go on to place 7th in the tournament,” said Hu. “It was a great learning experience to debate against high-level teams.” Although they prepared extensively, as Hu reflected on the experience, he wished they had spent even more time researching the topic.

“We were glad we were able to showcase Gilman debate at such a prestigious competition,” said Chaudhuri. “I love the moments of debate you can’t prepare for, when you have a few seconds to come out with convincing counter arguments to an opponent’s claim.”

Hu also enjoys the thrill from such opportunities, adding, “I love debate because it encourages deep thinking, rewarding intimate knowledge of both your own and your opponents’ arguments. To me, it is an intellectual sandbox where I can research and approach problems from any angle imaginable.”

Chaudhuri and Hu will be leading the debate club at Gilman in the 2025-2026 school year and plan to apply the lessons they learned at this competition. They hope to welcome many more students into the club in the fall. Hu is optimistic about the club’s growth. “I am sure that people can find it just as rewarding as we do.”