Kealakehe students move to next round of international written debate competition

Seven Kealakehe High School students will compete in a prestigious international written debate competition focused on global education and public policy.

The team competed against 331 other teams from 39 countries in the 25th annual International Public Policy Forum — the world’s only contest that gives high school students the opportunity to engage in written and oral debates on issues of global importance.

Led by teachers Haley Swanson and Justin Brown, students Azalea Thorp, Lucy Cameron, Zachariah Smith, Autumn Brown, June Wheeler, Olivia Rudolph, and Kaʻea Adams wrote essays on the global education crisis to qualify for the first round.

The second round begins a single-elimination, written debate tournament. Teams will continue to debate the 2025-26 topic of the education crisis with essays being exchanged by email. Judges will select the advancing teams, and the format will continue until the final eight teams emerge.

Kealakehe is tasked with writing on the affirmative side of the issue against The Hockaday School from Dallas, Texas.

The last eight teams will earn an opportunity to compete in the oral debate finals in New York City for the $10,000 grand prize. For the teams that do not advance, evaluation forms and certificates of participation will be mailed in the coming weeks.

To see all the teams advancing and to learn more about the competition, visit the International Public Policy Forum website.

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