Qingyang Xu ’13 was named a Top Speaker following his impressive performance at the Andover Invitational Interscholastic Debate Tournament in November.
Nearly 300 students from 26 schools participated in the event, making it the largest tournament ever held in the history of the Debating Association of New England Independent Schools (DANEIS). The Andover Invitational is a world-qualifying tournament; the day’s top performer, Nat Warner ’13 of Choate, earned a spot on the US team and will compete at the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championship (WIDPSC) later this year in Brisbane, Australia.
The tournament consisted of three rounds of parliamentary debate in both novice and advanced divisions. Awards were given to the top three novice and advanced speakers, as well as the top speaker from each school. The top three schools also earned prizes.
“I am greatly honored to have been named a Top Speaker,” said Qingyang. “I engaged in three very tough debates. My opponents were critical and coherent in argument and graceful and gentle in manners. I am also grateful, with deep humility, to the decisive support from my partner Taewan Shim '14.”
Taft sent one advanced and two novice teams to the event. Their efforts earned Taft an impressive fifth-place finish.