Revere’s speech and debate team will argue against more than 40 schools and 900 competitors this season with the hope to qualify for the state championship.

This legal team of forty-five members has grown over the past three years, especially in the first few months of the 2017 school year. One member left due to graduation, but the team gained sixteen new members and the middle school club grew to twenty-five members.

So far this year, the team has about four competitions: John F. Kennedy, Perry, Wadsworth and Copley. Adviser and professor at Cuyahoga Community College John Kerezy knows the first part of the season turned into a success. Revere placed ninth out of 16 teams at JFK, twenty-third out of 40 teams at Perry, ninth out of 27 teams at Wadsworth and seventh of 22 teams at Copley. According to Kerezy, the speakers and debaters rose up in the ranks and in skill.

“Revere’s students are competing and beating many of the best debaters in Ohio in Lincoln Douglas, Public Forum and Congressional Debate. We are striving to expand and improve in individual events, where we have a lot of 9th grade competitors still learning the basics,” Kerezy said.

At the Copley invitational on November 18, Public Forum partners Megan Warburton and Luciya Katcher placed first in the rankings with their topic of whether or not the United States government should require universal background checks for firearms. Warburton shared her viewpoint on her and her partner’s progress.

“I think our biggest accomplishment was winning [against] Perry. . . . We went 4-0 at Perry and went 15-1 in the season [so far after Copley],” Warburton said.

Due to the events that occurred at Copley’s invitational on November 18, Warburton and Katcher can start heading towards states according to the speech and debate team’s president, Leah Espinal.

“[State] qualifiers are actually in [February], but we have some people, such as one Public Forum team, Megan and Luciya, who will have three bids out of four. [Sophomore] Claire Jimerson and I have qualified for states [for Congressional debate],” Espinal said.

Lincoln Douglas debater Jack Krew elaborated on his progress on receiving bids and what bids do for the debaters.

“I have gotten two bids. A bid is a ratio where you place in a certain top percentage in a tournament so the top 6 placers can get bids. I am hoping to get four bids [so I can qualify for states]. . . . [My topic until January is that] wealthy nations have an obligation to provide development systems to other nations,” Krew said.

According to Katcher, a bid can compare to an endorsement, where a student’s debate or speech is supported by the giving of the bid.

“So if you get four bids, then you automatically qualify for the state competition instead of having to go through a certain, really long tournament to try and get to states and pre-qualify,” Katcher said.

Both junior Individual Event speaker Victoria Liu and sophomore Lincoln Douglas debater Julia Scott received bids at Copley as well. Other members of the team hope to qualify for states.

Kerezy further elaborated on his high hopes for the future and for the states competition.

“I believe we can be one of the top 3-4 schools this year by the time the [state] tournament comes around. It will take a lot of work. . . . If they put in the work, they will be happy with their results,” Kerezy said.

The OSDA State Qualifiers will take place at Wooster on Saturday, February 3, and the State Championships will occur from Friday, March 2 until Saturday, March 3 at Sylvania.