Durham Academy had an amazing 2023 Grand National Tournament last weekend. 12 Cavaliers traveled to Louisville, Kentucky to secure the second National Championship.
Robert Liu '24 was named the Champion of Lincoln-Douglas Debate after defeating Harrison High School (NY). Congratulations to Jacob Palmer '20 for working closely with students competing in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate division. There were also some amazing individual results:
- Max Tendler '24 finished 3rd in Original Oratory out of the 193 Orators at the tournament.
- Lulu Burnside ’24 was a Finalist (Top 24) in Congressional Debate.
- Zara Miller ’25 was in the Top 12 of Declamation.
- Kiersten Hackman ’24 was in the Top 48 of Original Oratory
- Connor Ennis ’24 was in the Top 48 in Extemporaneous Speaking.
- Ben Hodges ’24, Veer Prakash ’23, Sachin Aggarwal ’24 and Joanna Yoon ’26 qualified and competing in this extremely competitive tournament.
For the second consecutive year, Durham Academy was recognized with the Eleanor E Wright Award of Excellence in Debate which is given to the Top 5 debate teams in the tournament. And for the first time ever, Durham Academy was recognized with the Daniel S. Masterson, Jr. Award of Excellence in Forensics. This is given to the Top 5 overall teams in the tournament – placing Durham Academy in the Top 1% of the 412 schools represented at the tournament.
Congratulations to the entire team, and special thanks to the assistant coaches, alumni Jacob Palmer '20 and Emily Donaldson '20.