Three members of Hathaway Brown's debate team —Nitya Thakore '16, Aarathi Sahadevan '16 and Lina Ghosh '17 — received a very prestigious honor when their International Public Policy Forum (IPPF) essay qualified as one of the “Top 32” teams internationally for the second year in a row. This team from Hathaway Brown School was also the runner-up in the 2013-14 IPPF competition.
The IPPF is an international competition of “written debate” sponsored by the Bickel and Brewer law firm and New York University. Teams from 32 states and 21 countries wrote preliminary round essays on the resolution "Resolved: Mass surveillance is not a justified method of governmental intelligence gathering."
The team now moves into the elimination round bracket competing for an all-expenses paid trip to NYC to compete live at the IPPF Finals this coming Spring. They will compete against Team Singapore from Singapore, exchanging written arguments weekly over the next month that will be reviewed by a panel of judges. HB was the only school from Ohio to qualify.
“We are very proud of Hathaway Brown School and all of the teams that advanced in this very competitive global debate challenge,” says William A. Brewer III, partner at the law firm of Bickel & Brewer and a founder of the IPPF. “These students have distinguished themselves as among the best in this unique test of research, writing and advocacy.”
Hathaway Brown also had a second team of Tessa Murthy '15, Emma Bryan '15, and Lexi Anderson '15 that reached the top 64 of the competition. HB was one of eight schools with two qualifying teams.
To learn more about the IPPF competition, click here.
Congratulations to these girls on this very impressive accomplishment! We wish them luck in their upcoming round of competition.