Left: Sofia Burgess and Noah Winters won second place at the Minnesota State Debate Tournament.
BY SKYE SPINDLER
The Minneapolis South High School debate team had phenomenal success at the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) State Debate Tournament in January. Students from all across Minnesota got together for high quality, rigorous debate.
Across two long days of competition, the partnership of Sofia Burgess and Noah Winters proceeded through five preliminary and three elimination rounds to emerge as 2024 Minnesota State Policy Debate Finalists. Sofia and Noah had a record of 4-1 in preliminary rounds and won their quarterfinal and semifinal debates, clinching victories against some of the best teams in the state from Eagan and Edina before losing to St. Paul Central for the state championship.
This was a fantastic run for the South High debaters and coaches, who rose to the challenge in these highly competitive debates. When asked how they felt, Sofia and Noah both repeated, “This is the best I’ve ever debated.”
We also want to give a shoutout to Ava Winters and Noah Swim who finished their run at the Minnesota state tournament despite illness requiring Noah, a second-year JV debater, to swap in as an alternate. Good job, Noah, we know that took guts, and we are proud of Ava for stepping up as a leader and showing Noah the ropes of varsity competition.
These students are members of the Minnesota Urban Debate League (MNUDL), a program of Augsburg University. MNUDL provides academic competitive debate programming for more than 1,300 middle and high school students in the Twin Cities.
