The Coolidge Debate League at the Luddy Schools is a debate league for high schoolers and middle schoolers in the greater Raleigh region in North Carolina. It is jointly run by the Coolidge Foundation and the schools founded by Robert L. Luddy. Those schools are Thales Academy Apex, Thales Academy Rolesville, Franklin Academy, and St. Thomas More Academy. Throughout the year, the Coolidge Foundation helps to organize debate tournaments at these schools.
Below are resolutions, results, and photos from past tournaments (high school division only). Starting with the first tournament of the 2019-2020 season, full results (not just the winners) are available on Tabroom.com (search for “Coolidge”).
2021-2022 Tournament #2 at Thales Academy Rolesville (November 13, 2021)
Resolved: United States antitrust laws should be abolished.
Varsity Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Dornan & Seaman
- 2nd Place: Von Canon
- 3rd Place: Eisenacher & Autry
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Maggie Von Canon
- 2nd place: Tyler Seaman
- 3rd place: Ben Dornan
Novice Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Lilja & Blount
- 2nd Place: Von Canon & Wieberg
- 3rd Place: Hurd & Kumar
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Audrey Hurd
- 2nd place: Annika Lilja and Jasmine Blount (tied)
- 3rd place: Morgan Von Canon and Anulika Izuakor (tied)
2021-2022 Tournament #1 at Thales Academy Apex (August 28, 2021)
Resolved: Immigration is a positive force for the U.S. economy.
Varsity Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Mohamed & Abdel-Rahman
- 2nd Place: Cornicelli & Damian
- 3rd Place: Dornan & Seaman
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Manav Desai
- 2nd place: Noreen Mohamed and Yasmine Abdel-Rahman (tied)
- 3rd place: Tyler Seaman, Sofia Cornicelli, Sophia Damian, and Nicholas Smemoe (tied)
Novice Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Autry & Eisenacher
- 2nd Place: Kumar & Unnikrishnan
- 3rd Place: Small & Henry
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Rudhra Unnikrishnan
- 2nd place: Adeline Autry and Athena Kumar (tied)
- 3rd place: Gracie Eisenacher, Angie Gunter, and Chessa Hake (tied)
2020-2021 Tournament #4 at Thales Academy Rolesville (May 8, 2021)
Resolved: Supreme Court Justices shall serve terms of no more than 18 years.
Varsity Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Von Canon
- 2nd Place: Lynch & Lynch
- 3rd Place: Shay & Miller
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Maggie Von Canon
- 2nd place: Brendan Lynch
- 3rd place: Cormac Lynch
2020-2021 Tournament #3 at St. Thomas More Academy (March 6, 2021)
Resolved: The U.S. government should end its program of federally subsidized student loans.
Varsity Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Von Canon & Turco
- 2nd Place: Abdel-Rahman & Mohamed
- 3rd Place: Patti and Lynch & Lynch (tied)
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Maddie Turco
- 2nd place: Brendan Lynch
- 3rd place: Maggie Von Canon, Noreen Mohamed, and Manav Desai (tied)
Novice Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Roberson & Sullivan
- 2nd Place: Shay & Jennings
- 3rd Place: Smit & Opala
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Kate Roberson
- 2nd place: Jeannette Smit
- 3rd place: Josiah Sullivan and Emma Jennings (tied)
2020-2021 Tournament #2 at Thales Academy Apex (November 14, 2020)
Resolved: Congress should repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
Varsity Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Von Canon & Turco
- 2nd Place: Lynch & Lynch
- 3rd Place: Brown & Heroux
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Maddie Turco and Aimee Heroux (tied)
- 2nd place: Cormac Lynch, Brendan Lynch, Jacob Reinhardt, and Manav Desai (tied)
- 3rd place: Maggie Von Canon
Novice Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Cornicelli & Damien
- 2nd Place: Dornan & Seaman
- 3rd Place: Hodges & Dalrymple
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Tyler Seaman
- 2nd place: Ben Dornan and Nicholas Smemoe (tied)
- 3rd place: Sofia Cornicelli and Grace Hodges (tied)
2020-2021 Tournament #1 at Thales Academy Rolesville (September 12, 2020)
Resolved: The benefits of the shutdown of the U.S. economy due to the coronavirus outweigh the costs.
Varsity Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Lynch & Lynch
- 2nd Place: Fortlage & Von Canon
- 3rd Place: Macklem & Hickman
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Brendan Lynch
- 2nd place: Cormac Lynch
- 3rd place: Maggie Von Canon
Novice Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Reinhardt & Tomas
- 2nd Place: Turco & Solomon
- 3rd Place: Hale & Gyamfi
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Jacob Reinhardt
- 2nd place: Tara Solomon
- 3rd place: Destiny Hale
2019-2020 Tournament #4 at Franklin Academy (May 9, 2020)
This tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2019-2020 Tournament #3 at Thales Academy Rolesville (March 7, 2020)
Resolved: The United States should adopt Medicare For All, thus instituting a single-payer system of healthcare.
Varsity Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Bagwell
- 2nd Place: Patel & Wieberg
- 3rd Place: Wang & Price
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Meigan Bagwell
- 2nd place: Daniel Price
- 3rd place: Aubrey Wieberg
Novice Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Heroux & Glorius
- 2nd Place: Maloney & McCormick
- 3rd Place: Buttitta & Pearson
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Aimee Heroux
- 2nd place: Charlotte McCormick
- 3rd place: Jordan Elliott and Zach Brooks (tied)
2019-2020 Tournament #2 at Thales Academy Apex (November 16, 2019)
Resolved: The United States federal government should replace its current federal welfare programs with a universal basic income.
Varsity Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Senecal & Wieberg
- 2nd Place: Bagwell & Walker
- 3rd Place: Lynch & Lynch
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Meigan Bagwell
- 2nd place: Aubrey Wieberg
- 3rd place: Brendan Lynch
Novice Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Abdel-Rahman & Mohamed
- 2nd Place: Patti & Dalton
- 3rd Place: Earnest & David
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Graceann Thilman
- 2nd place: Elijah Patti
- 3rd place: Yasmine Abdel-Rahman, Eyerusalem David, and Katie Hodges (tied)
2019-2020 Tournament #1 at Thales Academy Rolesville (September 7, 2019)
Resolved: The state of North Carolina should offer targeted tax incentives to businesses that relocate major parts of their operations to North Carolina.
Varsity Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Patel & Konopka
- 2nd Place: Brooks & Annab
- 3rd Place: Bagwell & Delves, Senecal & Wieberg (tied)
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Nick Lucovsky
- 2nd place: Kennedy Brooks
- 3rd place: Ashley Josey & Marshall Annab (tied)
Novice Division
- Top Teams
- 1st Place: Elison & Alexander
- 2nd Place: Price & Wang
- 3rd Place: Bakogiannis & Reinhardt
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Daniel Price
- 2nd place: Nick Brown
- 3rd place: Blake Ellison
2018-2019 Tournament #4 at Franklin Academy (May 11, 2019)
Resolved: The benefits of obtaining a bachelor’s degree outweigh the costs to students and their families.
- Winning Team: Lizzy Andrews* and Shae Reinberg*
- Runner-Up Team: Noah Berman* and Maggie Von Canon*
- Third Place Team: Jacob Zampino* and Cole Toscano*
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Jacob Zampino
- 2nd place: Cole Toscano
- 3rd place: Shae Reinberg
- 4th place: Lizzy Andrews and Cormac Lynch* (tied)
- 6th place: Brendan Lynch*
- 7th place: Kevin Pratt*, Ethan Delves*, and Alex Kaneklides* (tied)
- 10th place: Maggie Von Canon
- 11th place: Daniel Perez Munoz and Evan Glass (tied)
- 13th place: Christopher Clark*
- 14th place: Nick Brown
- 15th place: Meigan Bagwell
- 16th place: Sheel Patel
- 17th place: Noah Berman
* Denotes Coolidge Cup bid recipient (i.e., eligible debaters from top three teams, plus next six eligible non-repeated debaters based on speaker points)
2018-2019 Tournament #3 at Thales Academy Rolesville (Feb 16, 2019)
Resolved: The United States federal government should make reducing the national debt a fiscal priority.
- Winning Team: Cole Toscano and Jacob Zampino
- Runner-Up Team: Nick Lucovsky and Ashley Josey
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Ethan Delves
- 2nd place: Meigan Bagwell
- 3rd place: Kennedy Brooks
- 4th place: Jacob Zampino
2018-2019 Tournament #2 at Thales Academy Apex (Nov 10, 2018)
Resolved: The United States Federal Government should adopt a carbon tax.
- Winning Team: Savannah Coutts and Grace Senecal
- Runner-Up Team: Patrick Foley and Maggie Von Canon
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Jacob Zampino
- 2nd place: Cole Toscano and Ethan Delves (tied)
2018-2019 Tournament #1 at Thales Academy Rolesville (Aug 25, 2018)
Resolved: The North Carolina state government should shift the weight of its K-12 education funding in favor of vouchers.
- Winning Team: Meigan Bagwell and Savanna Fortlage
- Runner-Up Team: Munish Ganorkar and Alex Kaneklides
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Kennedy Brooks
- 2nd place: Ethan Delves and Aimee Heroux (tied)
2017-2018 Tournament #4 at Franklin Academy (May 12, 2018)
Resolved: For the United States, socialism would be a better economic system than capitalism for promoting the well-being of the average person.
- Winning Team: Noah Berman* and Ethan Delves*
- Runner-Up Team: Munish Ganorkar* and Alex Kaneklides*
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Ethan Delves
- 2nd place: Meigan Bagwell*
- 3rd place: Aimee Heroux*
- 4th place: Grayson Sakell*
- 5th place: Connor Scanlon*
* Denotes Coolidge Cup bid recipient (i.e., eligible debaters from top two teams, plus next four eligible non-repeated debaters based on speaker points)
2017-2018 Tournament #3 at Thales Academy Apex (April 14, 2018)
Resolved: A significant tariff on imported goods from Mexico is a good policy for the U.S. economy.
- Winning Team: Noah Berman and Ethan Delves
- Runner-Up Team: Patrick Foley and Sheel Patel
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: Noah Berman
- 2nd place: Ethan Delves and Aimee Heroux (tied)
2017-2018 Tournament #2 at Thales Academy Rolesville
Resolved: The United States should abolish the capital gains tax.
- Winning Team: (To be added)
- Runner-Up Team: (To be added)
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: (To be added)
- 2nd place: (To be added)
2017-2018 Tournament #1 at Thales Academy Apex
Resolution to be added
- Winning Team: (To be added)
- Runner-Up Team: (To be added)
- Top Individual Speakers
- 1st place: (To be added)
- 2nd place: (To be added)
Debaters compete in a Luddy Debate League tournament at Franklin Academy, May 2018