IC Debate

09/20/2026

This year should be interesting!!

26-27 Resolution: “The United States federal government should substantially increase its public ownership of one or more of the following industries: electric utilities, health insurance, arms manufacturing, pharmaceuticals.”

07/02/2025

So excited for the 25-26 NFA-LD debate season!!

05/26/2025

So excited for this year’s international relations topic area!!

After tabulating the ballots the winning topic was POLAR REGIONS

Thanks to everyone who participated in the topic discussions and voting process and many thanks to Ben Stewart for returning ballot results over the holiday weekend!

If you would like to be a member of the research team for crafting this year's resolution, please email the NFA-LD committee chair at [email protected]

Please watch your email for meeting info!

Specific ballot results can be found on the NFA-LD website:
https://nationalforensicassociation.org/competition/

[Image text: 2025-26 Polar Regions Lincoln-Douglas Topic International Relations Image: NFA logo.]

05/01/2025

The end of an era… This season has been something else!! We’ve lost and added people throughout the season, we qualified every event on the team to nationals, we learned about artificial intelligence, and most importantly, we GREW! I can’t wait for next year! 🫶

01/27/2025

The Gorlok never fails to be a season highlight! The judge quality, community, food, competition, all of it! So proud of these students’ hard work! 💙

10/01/2024

We took the show on the road for the first time this season and had a great time at the SBU Derryberry tournament! We faced tough competition, had success, and learned SO much!!

Can’t wait for the next one!

08/29/2024

🌟 2024-2025 🌟

Pre-Season Camp and Week 1 of practices in the books! I can’t wait to see what’s in store for these amazing students!

07/29/2024

I had the opportunity to work with the Chicago Urban Debate League last week as a senior instructor for their first ever Speech Camp. My co-lab leader was Aditi Vadakath, last year’s runner up in Special Occasion Speaking at the IHSA state series. Needless to say, she was awesome!

We coached a group of high school students in Original Oratory, helping them craft persuasive speeches in only 4 days. On the final day of camp, we were invited to White & Case law offices (on the 51st floor!) to compete in a little scrimmage. I couldn’t believe the quality of work these students turned out in such a short period of time!

I also got to work with middle schoolers to teach Extemporaneous Speaking in the afternoons. I’d never worked with this age group before, and I cannot tell y’all how cool it was to see such tiny humans making well-reasoned arguments on current events topics, using sound research. So inspiring!!

Chicago Debates is an incredible organization and I’m honored to have been a part of it!!

01/29/2024

The Gorlok Gala is always a highlight of our season! The competition and community is unmatched. This year we had a small (but mighty) entry and I’m still in disbelief at our results.

Roxann secured another 1st place win in Novice LD at the Gorlok (to join 2020 & 2021’s IC champions) and Emily made a deep run into elims too. Roxann also advanced through semifinals to the final round of impromptu speaking as a novice! If you know anything about our circuit, you know how absolutely incredible the speakers on that stage are - most of them seniors. Roxann earned her place among the greats in her first college season.

“Proud” is underselling it 💙

10/09/2023