Student Celebrations
Ingraham, Ballard top winners of state policy debate championship
Ingraham High School’s debate team of Oakley Shelton-Thomas and Liam Donnelly prevailed over Ballard High’s team of Marlene Anderson and Jordan Callero to claim first place at the Policy Debate state championship March 22-23 at University of Puget Sound.
The team of Emma Daszkiewicz and Isaac Menninga from Ingraham also debated at state.
Of the 46 debaters competing, the top 20 speakers were recognized and all debaters from Ingraham and Ballard were included. The debaters were:
• Liam Donnelly (2nd);
• Jordan Callero (6th);
• Marlene Anderson (9th);
• Isaac Menninga (13th);
• Emma Daszkiewicz (17th); and
• Oakley Shelton-Thomas (20th).
The Ballard and Ingraham teams were founded four years ago with support from the Washington Debate Coalition, a non-profit founded by Anjali Vats, an attorney and Ph.D. candidate in Communications at the University of Washington who has devoted most of her adult life to promoting policy debate at the high school and college levels.
Twenty-three teams qualified to compete at state. Ingraham and Ballard were the only teams from Seattle Public Schools. Other competing schools included Holy Names, Gonzaga Prep, Kamiak, Newport, St. George’s, Interlake, Gig Harbor, Puyallup and Vashon.