Senior Payton Woolard placed first in the House Chamber of the April 13 district congressional debate tournament, qualifying him for the national speech and debate tournament held in Fort Lauderdale, FL this June.

Woolard is the first HCP student to go to nationals for congressional debate and only the third ever competitor in school history to attend, which represents the top 3% of nationwide competitors.

Woolard, who has participated in nearly every debate format offered, only recently found a place in congressional debate. He described it as “a good change of pace” from the other intense and preparation-heavy styles like Policy and Lincoln-Douglas.

“I feel the arguments are more organic and better constructed,” Woolard said. “It gives congressional debate a more natural feel.”

According to Woolard, the judging style of congressional debate was entirely different from other forms of debate he had tried, because the goal was not to defeat an opponent but to best recreate a productive session of congress.

“The judges are looking for good political practice: being respectful to the other representatives, speaking well, asking good relevant questions and presenting decent arguments,” Woolard said.

The six-hour-long event presented an entirely different dynamic for the debaters.

“I’m arguing for what I believe in,” Woolard said. “We got to see conservatives and liberals alike presenting ideas that really made sense.”

Despite being relatively new to the event, Woolard distinguished himself in the House chamber of the mock congress.

“I think what the judges were looking at was [that] I presented myself the best as a simulated member of congress,” Woolard said.

His placement guarantees him a spot in the national level of congressional debate at the annual tournament. Woolard said that the prospect of going to a national tournament was still surreal to him.

“I feel pretty good though,” he said.

His favorite moment of the debate was against another debater he had faced before.

“There was one young woman there who thrashed me at districts LD debate last year and I got roasted by the judges,” Woolard said, “and I thrashed her this time and it felt amazing and I loved that.”

The speech and debate team has a GoFundMe page to raise enough money for the week long trip to Florida that can be found here.