Courtesy of Arjun Nair

Focused, Shrey Birmiwal ‘25 prepares to give a Public Forum speech in his Triple-Octafinals round at the TFA state tournament. Birmiwal and his partner, Siyona Jain ‘25, advanced to the Double-Octafinals round of the tournament.

From Thursday, March 7, to Saturday, March 9, Speech & Debate competed at the Texas Forensic Association (TFA) state tournament in Houston, Texas.

Speech & Debate competed alongside 1,500 students from other schools in various events and styles of Debate, including Lincoln Douglas, Congress, Cross-Examination, Public Forum, and Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking. Debate experienced tremendous amounts of success across the board.

“Last year the team had 25 qualified slots to TFA and this year we had 35. This moved us from being outside the top ten in qualification to fifth overall in the state,” Debate sponsor Dominic Henderson said. “This is an excellent showing for the team as a whole, and not just a move up from last year, but an improvement over the previous year when the team ranked 8th in overall qualifications.”

Debate’s biggest successes came in the Cross-Examination debate division, with seniors Ishan Sharma, Sahil Jain, and Madhavan Prasanna and sophomore Ethan Andrew advancing to semifinals. In addition, Pranav Balakrishnan ‘25 and Eric Zhu ‘24 advanced to the Octa-Finals round, while freshmen Nikhil Gupta, Imran Kutianawala, and Raghav Laxminarasimhan, and Varsha Sivasubramanian ’26 advanced to the Double-Octafinals round.

“I’m pretty happy that I made it to semifinals, but I also feel as though I could’ve gone further,” Andrew said.

In the Lincoln Douglas debate division, seniors Aarav Mahesh and Akhilesh Pissay advanced to the Triple-Octafinals round. 

“Overall, the experience of competing at TFA was great,” Pissay said. “I think that the debate side of things was fun, but I also enjoyed reconnecting with debaters on the circuit and having fun with our team.”

In the Public Forum debate division, juniors Siyona Jain and Shrey Birmiwal advanced to the Double-Octafinals round, alongside seniors Rishik Boddeti and Aamir Kutianawala.

“Before doubles, we had to debate in the triples round and it was truly one of the most nerve-wracking debate rounds of my life,” Jain said. “Winning that round was so rewarding, and making it to doubles was so exciting.” 

In the Domestic Extemporaneous speaking division, Vince Pham ‘25 advanced to quarterfinals, while Charlie Hui ‘26 advanced to semifinals. Hui also advanced to the semifinals of the Congressional debate division. In the Informative Extemporaneous speaking division, Anushka Gupta ‘26 also advanced to semifinals.

“I think a semifinal appearance by me and Anushka put Westwood on the map for Extemp, but I think that the true benefit was to leave a legacy that the team could appreciate,” Hui said. “I gave a speech that showed my personality, my work, and my effort, and I’m proud to be in a state, in a school, and in a community that empowers me to do so.”

Debate will next compete at the National Debate Coaches Association (NDCA) Championships in Bloomington, Illinois on Saturday, April 13.