Bangor High School’s Debate Team Wins 2nd Consecutive State Title

Bangor High School’s Debate Team recently won their second straight State Championship, and third since 2020.

Under the leadership of their coach Matt Leland, Bangor scored all of their points in the Lincoln Douglas divisions of the Debate Tournament. Lincoln Douglas is a one-on-one style of debate where students argue a resolution through an overarching value debate. This year’s State Championship resolution was on the appropriate role of the United States military in North Africa and West Asia.

Bangor also won the Sportsmanship Award, voted on by the competing teams!

Bangor placed students in all three divisions of Lincoln Douglas Debate, and out scored Deering High School by six points to win the Championship Tournament. Teammates Kaitlyn Kelleter and Julianna Venturelli closed out the final round of Varsity Lincoln Douglas, with Kaitlyn besting her teammate in the final round. Kaitlyn was State Runner up last year, losing to another teammate in the Final Round that year.

In the Junior Varsity Division, Bangor teammates Ellee Robichaud and Beatrix Foster also debated in the final round, with Ellee besting her teammate in a closely decided round. Novice Lincoln Douglas is a division for first year debaters, and Bangor’s freshman Ama Opoku out-debated Oliver Tatro of Cheverus in the Final round to help her team score additional points to win the overall State Championship Tournament.

Bangor High School returns their entire Debate Team next year and hopes to defend their State Titles in January of 2025.

The Bangor Debate Team will continue their season into February with a series of three tournaments to determine which debaters will represent the State of Maine at two National Championship tournaments later this year. The NCFL Grand National Tournament will be held in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend in May, while the NSDA National Debate Tournament will be held in Des Moines, Iowa during a week of competition in mid-June.

Any school in the greater Bangor area that would be interested in competing in debate next academic year should contact either current coach Matt Leland or former coach Joe Pelletier at Bangor High School for more information on how to start a team

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Thanks to Joe Pelletier and Matt Leland for the info!