Varsity debaters place fourth at Chattahoochee Cougar Classic
by Bill Wilson, debate coach & economics teacher
Students fared well at the Chattahoochee Cougar Classic and prepare to travel to Wake Forest University.
The debate team had another strong outing last weekend as USN students placed in all three policy divisions at the Chattahoochee Cougar Classic.
In the varsity division, Akash Kurupassery and Evan Rork finished preliminary competition with a 5-1 record, good for the fourth seed in the elimination bracket. They then lost their octafinal debate to Pace Academy on a 2-1 decision. William Bradshaw and Arjun Dasari finished prelims with a 4-2 record and dropped a 3-0 decision to the top seed from Riverwood High School, Ga. in the octafinal round. Akash was the fifth place speaker out of 92 varsity debaters in the field.
After their strong performance in Kentucky, USN novice teams of Erica Friedman and Neha Saggi, and Niles Clancy and Lauren French competed in the junior varsity division at Chattahoochee this weekend. Erica and Neha finished prelims with a 3-2 record and qualified for the quarterfinal round where they lost to a second-year team from Montgomery Bell Academy.
In the novice division, Christopher Cheek and Gracie Li finished prelims with a 4-1 record. They won unanimous decisions in their elimination debates over Lilburn, Ga. in the round of 16 and Woodward Academy in the quarterfinals. Christopher and Gracie were then declared co-champions in the division. Wiley Barzelay and Mayowa Kassim finished prelims with a 3-2 record. They qualified for the octafinal round where they lost to Montgomery Bell Academy. Wiley was recognized as the seventh place speaker out of 94 competitors in the division.
The varsity squad will have three weeks to prepare for the next competition at Wake Forest University after Fall Break.
Aliza Ahmed '26, Uma Ehrig '26, Victor Peng '26, Ruchika Ramachandran '27, and Yvonne Wang '27 participated in the Asian Educators Alliance conference this year in Atlanta, Georgia.
Anna Brook '30, Claire Yu '30, Clio Cherry-Pulay '29, and Liam Mooney '28 took him the championship during the 4th annual USN Middle School Quiz Bowl Championships. Two teams will travel to Chicago to compete in the National Academic Quiz Tournaments Middle School National Championships on Saturday, May 10.
Cpl. Robert Gibson joined University School of Nashville in November as a School Resource Officer, a certified police officer who is primarily assigned to a school and provides safety and security-related functions, including emergency response, safety training, traffic direction, and patrol functions.
USN Mission: University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.