Senior Saavan Nanavati ‘17 was ranked eighth in the country among all Lincoln-Douglas debaters by the Victory Briefs Institute. This is the first time in all of Westwood Debate’s history that any individual debater has entered the top 10 charts.

“[He] spends hundreds of hours researching current events and philosophy just to prepare for a single tournament,” Former captain Akhil Gandra said. “The preparation never stops.”

Nanavati expressed similar sentiments in an interview with the Austin American Statesman earlier this year after winning the National Speech and Debate Association Districts Championship and advancing to the national championship.

Almost every other weekend, Nanavati finds himself travelling to national circuit debate tournaments across the country where he competes against several hundred other Lincoln-Douglas debaters to vie for the first place title and earn an invitation to the Tournament of Champions.

The Tournament of Champions is considered the most prestigious and competitive high school debate tournament – only the top 70 to 80 debaters in the nation qualify to compete each year.

“No one is more devoted to the activity and the work ethic than Nanavati,” Rishabh Shah ‘18 said. “Nanavati stays late after school almost every day, not only to practice and research but also to help out underclassmen, regardless of the debate event they are in.”

Nanavati qualified to and competed at the Tournament of Champions his junior year, and is expected to qualify again later this year.

However, for Nanavati debate is not about collecting as many titles as possible.

“[Debate is] a platform from which to encourage and empower other debaters to effectuate change within their own communities by fostering a dialogue over important issues,” Nanavati said, “such as poverty, food security, living wage, human rights, climate change, and the environment”.

As captain of the Lincoln-Douglas debate team, Nanavati holds a weekly varsity practice, where he emphasizes the educational value of debate over the dichotomy of winning and losing.

“What you put into debate is far more important than the outcome of any given debate round,” Nanavati said. “The research, the critical thinking, and the development of a unique perspective on the topic are what produce the valuable portable skills that debaters take out of the activity. I believe in a philosophy of ‘Process over Product.’”

Despite the tremendous number of positive experiences that debate has engendered for Nanavati, he says he does not want to debate in college.

“I am grateful for the research skills, public speaking skills, and competitive atmosphere that debate has provided me,” Nanavati said. “However once I enter college, I’m going to shift my focus to my passion in business and computer science. I believe that my career in debate has given me a significant advantage in both.”