Tip of Texas wins 2019 Texas Great Debate, repeating as champions

The Tip of Texas team won the Texas Great Debate on Saturday night, winning its seventh Silver Cup, repeating as champions, and breaking a curious cycle in which Tip of Texas won Texas Great Debates in even years and Rio Grande Valley won in odd years, dating back to 2013.

The RGV team finished as second runners-up, with San Antonio earning first runner-up honors.

The competition featured strong showings from finalists who clearly prepared and rose to the challenge of the Ida Green Theater stage.

The Cross Examination finals — a debate on the merits of investing in leadership development for young Latino leaders — was an all-El Paso finals, with Susana Moreno (Coronado High School) & Gael Bunsow (Cathedral High School) defeating Max Maidl (Cathedral High School) & Max Intebi (El Paso High School).

The Oratory finals also featured two teammates — Alexa Mendoza (McAllen Memorial High School) and Geevana Uribe (Science Academy of South Texas, McAllen) — from the RGV team, skillfully and bilingually speaking, with Uribe emerging as the victor.

The Extemporaneous Speaking competition was on the theme, “Public universities should be driven by a mission of developing a national thinking intelligentsia instead of the mission of educating a future national labor force.” It involved the first Tip of Texas representative on the 2019 finals stage, Sofia Homes (South Texas Academy for Medical Professions, San Benito), against Ricardo Martinez (Cathedral High School) from the El Paso team.

The Mock Trial competition involved rivals from RGV and Tip of Texas arguing a case about teaching governance to Latino youth. Attorney Mariajose Morales and Witness Alicia Ordonez (both from Saint Joseph Academy, Brownsville) from Tip of Texas argued for the prosecution and Attorney Olivia Gonzalez (IB at Lamar Academy, McAllen) and Witness Hailey Henderson (McAllen Memorial High School) from RGV argued for the defense. The defense won, though Morales and Ordonez’s second place finish contributed to Tip of Texas’s overall win.

The Atheneum finals involved six competitors who emerged from three prior rounds of competition: Sophia Ramirez (South Texas Academy for Medical Professions, San Benito) from the RGV team, Troy Jones (Veterans Memorial High School) from the Corpus Christi team, Emily Forden (Bishop Dunne High School) from the Dallas team, Anaya Zachery (TMI Episcopal) from the San Antonio team, Caleb Solorzano (Central Catholic High School) from the San Antonio team and Alejandra Castro (Hillcrest High School) from the Dallas team. Castro emerged as the winner in this hard-fought contest.

Look to NHIMagazine.com this coming week for more coverage of the Texas Great Debate, including quotes from the finalists.