On November 2 at the Bronx High School of Science in New York City, junior Isaac Blackburn won first place in Congressional Debate at the Speech and Debate Fall Classic Tournament. Blackburn has been on the team for around two years and is looking forward to many more speech and debate achievements.

Blackburn knows many people on the speech and debate scene and says that it’s fun to spend his Saturdays with them. When asked what his favorite things about the team were, he said, “It is nice to have a group which travels to tournaments and competes together; even though you compete as an individual, you do not attend the tournaments as one.  Going out for meals and late-night research with other debaters on the team is part of the speech and debate experience and what I enjoy the most about the team.”

“It [winning] was a proud moment, but it wasn’t just the ‘first place’, it was about who you did better than, and your own strengths,” Blackburn said. He still thinks he has room for improvement in his spot refutation, as well as the time it takes him to research.

When asked about what he enjoys most about the Speech and Debate team Blackburn said, “absolutely destroying unsound arguments.”