On Friday, April 14th, three teams of two students from Jensen Beach High School, Martin County High School and South Fork High School competed in the final stage of the 2023 Constitutional Debate Competition.
The three teams chose which side they wanted to defend in the Supreme Court Case No. 21-418, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District.
Each team was given two minutes of opening and closing statements with a question and answer session from Fourth District Court of Appeal Judge Alan Forst and 19th Judicial Circuit County Judge Kathleen Roberts in between.
After the teams presented, the judges went to their chambers at the YMCA of The Treasure Coast to make a decision.
The judges said it was a very difficult decision, but ultimately, they ruled the team of Laurali Firestone and Nira Goyal made their case.
Thank you to the judges for taking time out of their busy schedules to be part of this process. We would also like to thank the YMCA of The Treasure Coast (through Florida YMCA Youth In Government) for hosting the debate.
Each team will be receiving scholarship money for their hard work and efforts to make it to the final round.
Congratulations to all of these amazing students:
- 1st Place: Laurali Firestone & Nira Goyal -- Martin County High School
- 2nd Place: Courtney Jones & Joshua Eatman -- Jensen Beach High School
- 3rd Place: Benjamin McCulley & Dexter Paulson -- South Fork High School
Watch the critical thinking skills in action: