The FCHS debate team has had a successful 2026 season despite a small footprint. The sport remains one of the lesser-known sports at FCHS, and perhaps the least-known academic sport at the school. However, the few Flucos who have been willing to invest their time into this extracurricular have been killing it this season. They have three students–junior Ella Grace Mann and seniors Andrew Jamison and Vanessa Vandervander–heading to States on April 18, despite having only 11 teammates this season, about a quarter less than in 2025.

Students choose and compete in different debate categories, including Student Congress (SC), Lincoln Douglas (LD), Public Forum (PF), and Policy (P). All have slightly different ways of preparing and performing, with the SC and LD being performed solo, and PF and P being performed with a partner.

October is when debate tournaments begin taking place. The first four tournaments fall under what is called the ShenVaFl (Shenandoah Valley Forensics League) season. ShenVaFl 1 takes place every year at Turner Ashby High School, ShenVaFl 2 is held at Broadway High School, and ShenVaFl 3, which is normally held at Harrisonburg High School, was changed to Rocktown High School this year. ShenVaFls 1-3 are practice tournaments, meaning the rules are more lenient in order to allow the competitors to ease into the season.

The fourth ShenVaFl tournament is known as the Tournament of Champions. This is the first competition of the year in which debaters must qualify to participate.

“The ShenVaFl tournaments are a fun and easy way to get into debate. They’re great as first-time competitions to help you start to understand the different rules and challenges, but they’re also great for practice and fun when you’ve already been in debate for a while,” said Mann, who competes in Student Congress.

Because of the snowstorm that ripped through the East Coast in January, the 2026 Tournament of Champions was cancelled. However, this event did not stop the strong FCHS competitors from moving on to the Virginia High School League (VHSL) part of the season.

Here is how the students placed in the first several tournaments:

ShenVaFl 1:

Student Congress–

• Vanessa Vandevander – 1st
• Marianna Dimagnaong – 3rd

ShenVaFl 2:

Student Congress–

• Kennedy (Reese) Yowell – 2nd
• Aryann Baskfield – 4th

Policy–

• Madelyn Grout and Zoe Luniewski – 2nd

ShenVaFl 3:

Student Congress–

• Vanessa Vandevander – 1st
• Aryann Baskfield – 3rd

Policy–

• Madelyn Grout and Zoe Luniewski – 2nd

Lincoln Douglas–

• Andrew Jamison – 3rd

VHSL Regionals:

Student Congress–

• Vanessa Vandevander – 2nd
• EllaGrace Mann – 4th

Lincoln Douglas–

• Andrew Jamison – 1st

VHSL Super Regionals:

Student Congress–

• Vanessa Vandevander – 1st

Lincoln Douglas–

• Andrew Jamison – 2nd

At the Super Regionals tournament on March 21 at Turner Ashby High School, Jamison, Mann, and Vandevander all qualified for the state tournament on April 18 at Randolph Macon College.

Because of the long season, future Debate students must be willing to participate in a season that runs from October through April. Practices are held one day a week on Tuesdays after school. During the ShenVaFl season, students leave for the first three tournaments once a month during third block, stop at Chick-fil-A, then continue to the competition.

Students interested in trying out for the Debate team next year should attend the interest meeting and contact Divine in Room 4613.