Congratulations to my brother Jason Patil, Ted Belch and their debate teams at Glenbrook North on winning the all three major national policy debate tournaments this year. By winning the Tournament of Champions (TOC), Catholic Nationals, and NFL Nationals, all in the same year, the Glenbrook teams have accomplished a rare and extraordinarily difficult task. For those of you not familiar with the activity, winning all of these tournaments, even with an exceptionally talented team, is so difficult because each tournament emphasizes totally different strengths. Judges at these tournaments have such a huge range of expectations in terms of speed, persuasion and evidence, that it is almost impossible to effectively convince all of them of your arguments.
I still look back on high school debate as one of the most influential experiences of my youth. It was an incredible opportunity, where we learned not just the nature of a rigorous argument and how to use evidence effectively, but also a broad range of real-world topics from public policy to international affairs. Such a wonderful community of thinkers is hard to find, and I'm sad to have left it.
Ted, have a great retirement, and I'll see you in Vegas.