St. Matthew’s Debate Team Shines!

St. Matthew’s Middle School Debate Team recently demonstrated their exceptional skills at the highly acclaimed Tri-League tournament hosted by Polytechnic School. St. Matthew’s Parish School was proudly represented by five dedicated teams who joined 365 students from 27 schools across the region, comprising a total of 131 competing teams.

Our young debaters tackled challenging and timely topics including UN human rights enforcement and the role of artificial intelligence in education. Their preparation and eloquence paid off, with team members earning some of their highest speaker scores of the academic year.

The tournament brought several notable achievements for our debate program:

• One of our newest team members made an impressive debut, winning three out of four rounds in their first-ever competitive tournament

• Three St. Matthew’s students ranked in the top third of all competitors, showcasing our program’s depth of talent

• An exceptional performance from one of our 8th grade students earned them second place for overall best speaker, a remarkable accomplishment in such a competitive field

These accomplishments reflect not only the individual talents of our students but also highlight the strength of our entire debate program. The skills our students are developing—critical thinking, articulate expression, and persuasive argumentation—will serve them well throughout their academic careers and beyond.

We congratulate all our participants on their hard work and impressive showing at this prestigious tournament, and look forward to their continued success in future competitions.