As the plane began its ascent the morning of Jan. 23, the tension pulsed within the last five rows of the cabin.

In less than 24 hours, 13 Bellaire speech and debate team competitors would be 700 miles away from home at one of the largest annual national speech and debate tournaments: the 70th annual Barkley Forum at Emory University.

Among the 11 events offered, Bellaire competed in Congressional Debate, Public Forum Debate and Informative Speaking events. During the three-day tournament in Atlanta, junior Eliza Teo advanced to semifinals in Informative Speaking; juniors Samantha Tran, Catherine Xue and senior and three-time competitor at the Barkley Forum Andy Shen advanced to semifinals in Congressional Debate; and sophomores Aayush Khadse and Ayub Ahmed advanced to the first elimination round in Public Forum Debate.

“We don’t travel that much to out of state tournaments, but [Emory] is one of the big ones,” Shen said. “Bellaire has been a historical competitor at the Barkley Forum. It is your pre-nationals exposure to what it’s like to debate outside of Texas and adapt to judges who are not familiar with you.”

As part of tradition, Bellaire Debate competes at the Barkley Forum nearly every year. By consistently attending and advancing in the tournament, Bellaire remains one of 304 schools that boast active membership to the Barkley Forum, which guarantees three reserved competitor spots yearly for every event offered.

“The best of the best from each school come together to compete,” Teo said. “That itself is a lot of pressure for the people that are selected. It’s like an honor to be there, to represent your school.”

For Teo, competing at the Barkley Forum for the first time was a “milestone” in her speech career after she decided to switch events from Public Forum Debate to Informative Speaking in the middle of last year.

“Competing at Emory was definitely a very eye-opening experience,” Teo said. “Advancing to the semi-finals of Emory was a really proud moment of my speech in my debate career. I’m really grateful that the debate coach Mr. Chao brought me on this trip and allowed me to experience not only Emory University campus, but also the tournament itself, where I could see all these other amazing, informative speaking competitors, make friends and have amazing conversations with them.”

But the growth did not come without moments of doubt and toil. Sophomore Ayub Ahmed recounts how he felt at the Emory University Bookstore in the minutes before debate opponent pairings came out. Anxious questions flashed through his head:

“Do I have enough prep?”

“Can I respond to all the different arguments?”

“Will Mr. Chao be disappointed?”

Still, Ahmed believes the trip was worth it.

“Although I was disappointed with my performance, losing in the first elimination round, I think the opportunity helped me grow as a debater,” Ahmed said. “I also enjoyed spending time with my friends at the restaurant, hotels and even while prepping. Walking around campus in the evenings was cathartic. Each day of debating was stressful, but we got to unwind at the end.”

Although competitors like Ahmed said that they did not attain their personal goals to advance far into the tournament, Teo saw the Barkley Forum as an opportunity to encourage new bonding and growth for the team.

“Everybody’s so stressed but also happy to be there at the same time,” Teo said. “Being all together in a different state while competing together was a really nice bonding experience for our team as a whole.”

For more updates on future debate team tournaments, follow the Instagram @bellairedebate.