As the final school bell rings, most students will head off to their summer breaks, but not Katie Cao and Mitchell Larson, juniors. The duo will be heading off to the National Speech and Debate championships in Salt Lake City, Utah, from June 12 to 17 to compete against the best high school debate teams in the nation.

The two initially joined the team as freshman after a preliminary informational meeting. “I love to argue, and I love to discuss politics, so when I heard the announcement for an informational meeting about policy debate, of course I attended,” Larson said. Cao, on the other hand, was introduced to the activity by her brother Austin Cao, who was co-captain at the time.

She always heard “him practicing speaking drills in his room,” and when she came to the meeting, there “was some part of [her] that was genuinely excited to learn more.”

The pair started competing together during freshman year, when they started as novices. Originally, the two had separate partners, but they then had to pair up when both of their partners were sick. At that tournament, the two went undefeated and won the whole tournament in the end.

Their first time competing together “was awkward… because we didn’t know each other’s styles, but now we are in sync,” Larson said. That day, the two decided that they “wanted to try working together,” Cao said, and it has “worked out for the best.”

From then on, the two have worked hard together in order to improve their debating skills. They both agree that the most challenging part of debate is learning a lot about a lot of different topics. “In one round, we might discuss terrorism, the 2016 elections, data localization, cloud seeding, capitalism, Russian imperialism, the internet of things, journalist whistleblowers and a Taiwanese conflict. In fact, that was one of our rounds at a recent tournament,” Larson said.

While the rounds force competitors to think on their feet, there are substantial benefits to participating in the program. “Policy debate has taught me more than any class that I’ve ever been in,” Cao said.

In order to qualify for the national championship tournament, the duo attended a qualifier meet and placed within the top two teams at said meet. Once they arrive at nationals, the team will first debate in six preliminary rounds, each of which has two judges in it. If enough judges vote in their favor in each preliminary round, they will then advance to the elimination rounds.

There, the pair will continue to debate until they lose twice, at which time they would be eliminated.

As for how the competitors feel, both are feeling hopeful. “I try not to have expectations, but it’s hard not to. I want to do well,” Cao said.

Much in the same way, Larson said that he is “feeling pretty good about nationals! Even if we don’t make it to the elimination rounds, there is so much good competition there that it’ll be an excellent learning experience.”

Overall, however, the team just hopes to “represent a positive image for Wisconsin debate. We are so fortunate to have the support of debate teams all across Wisconsin, with great teams from Rufus King, Neenah and Waukesha South all reaching out to help us with preparation,” Cao said. In order to prepare for the competition, the team has been doing lots of research and running mock debates with another Homestead team, which is composed of Lauren Klein, junior, and Isabella Scaffidi, sophomore, who will also be competing at the national tournament.