Classy seems to have been the theme Saturday night as not one, but two groups of formally dressed students descended upon Whitman. While many donned suits and ties for the homecoming dance, hundreds of others put on their sharpest attire to participate in a national debate tournament hosted annually at Whitman.

This marked the fourth year that Whitman hosted a national tournament, with over 230 students from the east coast attending this year’s competition, tournament coordinator Jonathan Massey said. The speech and debate team typically hosts a few local tournaments each year but only one national tournament: The PrepMatters Capitol Beltway Fall Classic.

“We think this was the largest tournament Whitman has ever hosted,” Massey said.

Students from nine states competed at the tournament, in addition to local students from Wootton, Wilson and The Heights, among other area schools. Debaters from the Bronx High School of Science in New York, Cypress Bay in Florida and Baltimore City College High School were among the winners.

The tournament runs three different types of competitions, club vice president Jessica Levy said.  Students competed in policy debate, Lincoln-Douglas debate and public forum debate.

Whitman hosts the tournament as a team fundraiser in addition to providing a service to the national debate community. The profit is used to pay for coaches, but the tournament also provides as an opportunity for local students to participate in a national tournament.

Though Whitman debaters don’t participate in the tournament, nearly 30 students volunteered to assist with jobs such as selling at concessions and providing logistical support. Many students and families also provided housing for debaters coming from out of town.

The team showed a lot of progress in making this year’s tournament more successful than ever, Massey said. The tournament ran far more smoothly than in previous years, club president Fionn Adamian said. But looking forward to the future, there is still room for the team to improve.

“We reached out more to teams than we did last year,” Massey said. “But there were still teams that were underrepresented.”

While it did help Whitman’s own speech and debate team with fundraising, the tournament served a greater role, said the team’s teacher sponsor Colin O’Brien.  Many schools don’t have debate teams of their own, and this tournament allows them to participate even though they are unattached to an official team, O’Brien said.

“The tournament gives kids from all around the country a great experience in debating,” O’Brien said.