On October 23, Jericho High School hosted their first Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Twenty-nine Jericho High School students participated in the tournament. The Jericho team completed the competition with six Long Island Forensics Association (LIFA) finalists. Meira Bernstein earned a 1st place finish, Matt Friedman 5th place, Harrison Katz 7th, and Sana Raoof 10th among 84 junior varsity or intermediate debaters. Robbie Cohen earned a 4th place finish and Zach Levine 8th among 62 novice debaters. As finalists, all students received half qualification to attend the state championship in the spring. "This was a very exciting and rewarding day for all of our students," said Jericho Superintendent of Schools Hank Grishman after the awards ceremony. "The commitment and enthusiasm for the program are evident, both by the numbers of students who chose to participate and the outstanding results today. Advisor Randi Skeats is to be commended for her excellent work with our students."

One hundred and eighty students from twenty schools, including Cold Spring Harbor, Syosset, Great Neck, Port Washington, Half Hollow Hills, Chaminade, Kellenberg, Walt Whitman, Baldwin, Kings Park, Smithtown, and Sacred Heart Academy, competed in four rounds of debate, two rounds on each side of the issue. Students were judged on the quality of their argument. Each school was responsible for supplying judges for the tournament. Since Lincoln-Douglas Debate is one-on-one, it requires one judge for every two debaters. Judges never moderate for their own school. Most schools rely on parents to judge at tournaments. No experience is necessary. One hundred judges participated in the Saturday debate tournament.

This is the second year that the Tournament Debate elective course is being offered at Jericho High School. Under the guidance of social studies teacher Randi Skeats, students are learning to organize their ideas related to a specific issue, and then present them to an audience. Being able to evaluate a debate argument is an invaluable communication skill that students will use throughout high school, college and beyond. Students must learn to effectively combine philosophical issues with historical facts and current events to construct their arguments. The half-year course is available to all Jericho High School students. The high school has a debate club available to students who are unable to fit the class into their schedule. Club members are also encouraged to participate in the Tournament Debates.

Jericho High School belongs to the Long Island Forensics Association (LIFA) league. Debates are conducted once a month on Saturday. Debate is open to all students of member schools. Students debate on three levels: Novice, Intermediate, and Varsity. Novices are classified as freshman and sophomores who did not debate in the previous school year. Intermediate students have at least one year of experience or have completed their sophomore year. Varsity debaters should have at least two years of experience.

In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, students receive a topic approximately ten days prior to the tournament. They are required to research and prepare both sides of an issue- a constructive speech, cross examination, and rebuttal. The class provides students with the time to prepare and practice for tournaments and better develop these invaluable skills. This process helps students to develop a thorough understanding of philosophy, values (i.e. liberty, justice, progress, morality), and history. They must also use current examples to develop and support their case in order to uphold their side of the debate.

Blue Key helped to make the tournament a successful event by selling baked good throughout the day. The group raised $470. This money will be used to host the Senior Citizen Prom in the spring. "I would like to thank Blue Key and National Honor Society students for helping to ensure the smooth flow of events all day," said Skeats. "Students did a fabulous job of directing debaters and judges to classrooms throughout the middle school and high school."