Brookwood students win at Alabama Debate Tournament

Katelyn Infante, Thomasville Times-Enterprise
THOMASVILLE – On November 13th and 14th, Brookwood’s debate team was in Prattville, Alabama, competing in the Prattville Lion Classic, a two-day speech and debate tournament. Their debate topic: “Resolved: the United States federal government should impose price controls on the pharmaceutical industry.”
Two Brookwood teams, consisting of Andrew Cooper and Brett Heath, and Julia Johnson and Madeline Gordon, along with novice debater Troy Whitfield, competed against 24 schools from three different states. Debate sponsor Jonathan Groover noted, “This is the first time we’ve gone to a large two-day tournament. We went so that we could face some really strong competition in preparation for our state tournament in January.”
Team Johnson/Gordon were the varsity Public Forum Tournament Champions, achieving an 8-0 record as the only team of 26 to go undefeated. They won unanimous 3-0 decisions in the quarter- and semi-finals and a 2-1 decision in the finals, defeating a strong competitor from Prattville High School.
Students were also ranked on speaker points throughout the rounds, based on their speaking abilities in relation to other competitors. Junior Madeline Gordon ranked 3rd out of 52 speakers, and senior Julia Johnson ranked 13th.
Groover said, “I’m so proud of our entire team and the work they continually put into their preparation. Madeline and Julia absolutely deserve the championship; they were spectacular.”
 
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Located in Thomasville, GA, Brookwood School is a private school for grades JK-12. Students benefit from a challenging academic program, fine and performing arts, competitive athletics, and a wide selection of extracurricular activities.