Submitted by Bellingham United Debate Club
Top: Julie Carpenter (parent and judge), Katie Clarke (Sehome), Samantha Sandoz (Squalicum), Hunter Renz (BHS), Caroline Chen (Sehome), Will Woods (BHS) and Jackie Reed (parent and judge).
The Bellingham United Debate Club, comprised of Bellingham, Sehome and Squalicum high schools, emerged as the big winner of the annual University of Puget Sound Forensics tournament, Jan. 9-10 in Tacoma. Competing against more than 50 schools in both debate and individual events, students from the cooperative brought home trophies in three events.
In Policy Debate, two Bellingham United teams, sophomore Bryce Henshaw and freshman Haley Reed of Sehome, and seniors Will Woods and Samantha Sandoz of Bellingham, faced off in the quarterfinals. Woods and Sandoz took the win, bested strong teams from Oak Hill High School in Oregon and Gig Harbor High School and won a unanimous decision for the tournament’s Policy Debate championship.
Sehome freshman Katie Clarke won in Novice Impromptu Speaking, besting six other speakers.
The club’s Public Forum debate team, sophomore Caroline Chen and freshman Kendall Barnes of Sehome qualified for quarterfinals, but lost to the Westview High School team from Oregon.
Veteran debater and retired Foreign Service Officer Laura Livingston of Bellingham coaches the team. “As you can imagine, we were beyond thrilled with our results, especially considering that this trip had come together at the last minute,” said Livingston. “It’s also the best-ever record we’ve had at a major tournament.”
Qualifying tournaments continue through February, with Woods/Sandoz and possibly other team members advancing to the State finals.
