Speech & Debate Success at Nationals

6/22/2026

University School sent a record 12 competitors to the National Speech & Debate Tournament, an event with more than 7,000 students competing from around the world, representing 1,500 schools.

Our top finishers were:

Sahas Chhabra ’27 - 9th of 300 competitors in Lincoln Douglas Debate

Tejas Rajagopalan ’26 - 10th in World Schools Debate, as a member of the Cleveland district team.

Anshul Sharma ’26 - Top 40 in Lincoln Douglas Debate.

Additionally, the teams of Nolan Samuels ’28 & Zaid Anwar ’28 and Adonis Wazni ’26 & Gavin Chan ’28 reached elimination rounds in Public Forum Debate.

At the close of competition, University School was named a Debate School of Excellence, placing our program among the top 30 debate schools in the nation!

Congratulations to Head Coach James Lewis ’00 and the entire Speech & Debate team on this remarkable achievement.

The US Speech & Debate team members that competed at the international competition in Richmond, Virginia:

Will Allen ’26

Zaid Anwar ’28

Karan Bahl ’26

Colin Broholm ’26

Gavin Chan ’28

Sahas Chhabra ’27

Alexander Orasanu ’29

Sebastian Perez ’26

Tejas Rajagopalan ’26

Nolan Samuels ’28

Anshul Sharma ’26

Adonis Wazni ’26

Back

- The team at Nationals.
- Sahas Chhabra '27 and Tejas Rajagopalan '26
- Sahas Chhabra '27 receiving his award.
- Tejas Rajagopalan '26 with University School Public Forum Debate Coach Adam Stano at Nationals.