PHS debate team takes third in tournament
Fosters Daily Democrat
PORTSMOUTH - The New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts end-of-season High School Debate Tournament known as the “Christmas Chlassich” was hosted by Manhattan’s Regis High School on Dec. 19 with 550 students competing from 35 schools. With the online format, the tournament allowed participation from Portsmouth High School and other guest schools from South Carolina and Idaho.
States with mature debate programs (referred to as Forensic) have teams that compete in multiple formats, e.g. Lincoln Douglas, mock Congress (House and Senate), Oral Interpretation and Public Forum. The NH Debate League only has seven participating schools, so Public Forum, in which teams of two debaters argue for or against the resolution topic, is the only option in the state. PHS provided five of the 92 Public Forum teams competing across the novice, junior varsity and varsity teams over the resolution “The United States should implement a nuclear first use policy.”