Eagan High School Students Heading to State Debate Tournament

Editor's Note: The following is a press release from Independent School District 196.

A total of 12 District 196 high school students had top finishes at the Section 3 debate tournament at Rosemount High School, qualifying them to compete at the State Debate Tournament held Jan. 13-14 at the University of Minnesota.

District 196 students swept all six qualifying spots for the Lincoln-Douglas debate. Luke Stuttgen of Apple Valley High School finished first in Lincoln-Douglas debate and classmate John Granlund finished second. The other four qualifiers in order of finish are Kunal Patel of , Ashesh Rambachan of Eastview High School, Devin Awe of Rosemount and Ryan Mather of Eastview. Lincoln-Douglas is an individual event in which students argue the relative merit of values such as liberty and order or justice and equality as applied to a particular resolution. This year’s Lincoln-Douglas resolution is, “Resolved: It is morally permissible for victims to use deadly force as a deliberate response to repeated domestic violence.”

In the policy debate, District 196 students took three of the six state-qualifying spots, including the Rosemount team of Lisa Beard and Matt Stefanko, first place, Wes Just and Ryan Kirkley of Rosemount, third place, and Kathryn Bulanek and Kelsey Maher of Eagan, fifth. In policy debate, each two-student team defends both sides of a selected topic during the tournament. This year’s policy resolution is, “Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its exploration and/or development of space beyond the
Earth’s mesosphere.”

This will be the 111th annual State Debate Tournament, the longest-running event of the Minnesota State High School League.