Contact: Valerie Burke
Director of Community Education Services
952-848-3960
valburke@edina.k12.mn.us

Media Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Edina Debate Students to Compete in Top 16 Round Robin

Edina, Minn., Sept. 6, 2011–The Edina High School Policy debate team, Mimi Sergent-Leventhal and Erin Sielaff, have been invited to compete in the nationally-renowned Greenhill Round Robin held at Greenhill High School in Addison, Texas on September 15- 16, 2011, preceding the Greenhill Debate Invitational on September 17-19, 2011. The Greenhill Round Robin is one of the most prestigious national Policy debate round robins, open by invitation only to the top 16 ranked Policy teams in the country.

Seniors Sergent-Leventhal and Sielaff are the only students in Minnesota invited to attend the round robin and are considered by Edina debate coaches to be the most successful individual team in Edina Policy debate history. The duo competed last winter in the esteemed Harvard University Round Robin and this year have also been invited to the Pace Round Robin, scheduled to be held before the Emory University Debate Tournament in January 2012.    

Sheila Peterson, Edina High School Director of Debate, says, “We're simply thrilled for the girls as well as the whole team. The Greenhill Round Robin is widely considered to be the most prestigious of its kind. Of the teams invited this year, only two to three are from public schools, and of those, Edina is the only public school attending that does not currently offer a debate class; so this invitation is even more of a remarkable achievement for Mimi and Erin and the rest of our team, who have worked incredibly hard to be at such a high level in the activity.”  

This year, Policy debate teams are debating the topic “Resolved:  The United States Federal Government should substantially increase its exploration and/or development of space beyond the earth’s mesosphere.” 

About Edina Public Schools
Edina Public Schools has six elementary schools (K-5), two middle schools (6-9), and one senior high (10-12).  As Independent School District No. 273, it serves a large portion of Edina, a first tier Minneapolis suburb comprised of approximately 47,000 people.  The Edina school system – with 578 teachers and 8,300 students – is consistently ranked as one of the best in the nation and is known for its educational excellence, with over 90 percent of high school seniors going on to college. Its web site is at www.edina.k12.mn.us.