Niles North Debate Team Earns Top Awards at Tournament

Information provided by Niles Township High School District 219.

The Niles North High School Debate Team competed at the Illinois Debate Coaches Association Novice/JV State Tournament last week. Niles North Head Debate Coach Katie Gjerpen reported, “I am very excited to share that this was our most successful tournament to date!” 

In the Junior Varsity division, sophomore D’Angelo Oberto was named Top Speaker out of 74 students. In addition, he won a scholarship to a summer debate institute. He selected the seven-week Hoya-Spartan Scholars Institute, where he will spend three weeks at Georgetown University and four weeks at Michigan State University. Leelabari Fulbel was named sixth speaker, Luc Walkington was named 11th speaker and Ambria Benesch was named 14thspeaker. Oberto and partner Karli Goldenberg were seeded ninth overall, with Fulbel and Walkington seeded 10th. Both teams, along with Benesch and partner Adam Yusen, finished the tournament with a 3-2 preliminary record. 

In the Novice division, the freshmen duo of Ben Barov and Martin Barr debated to a second place finish in the state. They entered elimination debates ranked fourth overall in a field of 42 teams. They defeated Lane Tech in the Octafinals, New Trier in the Quarterfinals, and Glenbrook South in the Semifinals, before falling to a Glenbrook South team in the finals. Barov was named fifth speaker, and Barr was named 10th speaker, out of 84 debaters.

The debate team is led by Head Coach Katie Gjerpen and assistant coaches Brian Rubaie, Katie Klante, Sarah Smaga and Carly Wunderlich.