10-02-2017 7:31am

Saline High School Debate Team Off To A Strong Start

The first debate tournament of the 2017 season, brought the Saline High School and Middle School Teams to West Bloomfield High School on Saturday, Sept. 30.

Nishan Bhattacharyya and Max Schneider walked away with first place in the Novice division and Aditya Arora won first place speaker in the Workshop division.

The Varsity team of Megan Bankowski and Jordan Haerick placed in the top four.

Many others also won speaking awards.

Earning speaker trophies for Varsity were: Megan Bankowski, Jordan Haerick, Molly LaForest, Janna Jacobson, and Yolian Lao.

Additional speaker trophies for those in Workshop debates were:Ava Hajratwala, Kellan Meloche, Noah Holloway, Bridget Skelly, and Paige Haddas.

Three divisions were held for the first tournament: Varsity, Novice (first year debaters), and Workshop (for parents and students who wanted to learn about Public Forum debate and who practiced judging and debating three rounds, respectively).

Also debating at the first tournament were JoeyYonemori, John Muldoon, Arabella Wooton, Abigail Berwick, Vivi Zegren, Allie Doran, Anna Healy, Maggie Robbins, Kaelyn Erwin, Giselle Jost, Trinity Callega, Sarah Yousif, Mallory Lizotte, Raven Burgess, Michael Niculcea, and Feiyang Wang.

The Saline High School debate team is coached by teacher Ms. Shelly Venema, the 2017 Michigan Speech Coaches Association Debate Coach of the Year. The Saline Middle School Debate team is coached by alumni debater Mackenzie Hagood and assisted by alumni debater Alex Benson and teacher Mrs. Staci Nazareth.

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Eric J Neighbor

9-12-2026 5:38am

Did they announce if they’re doing the 1 mile run down Michigan avenue?

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Buddy Brown Neighbor

9-10-2026 6:55am

If this mileage passes, has the City of Saline, for example, committed to reduce their millage by 2.0 that they no longer
need to send to the Fire Department?

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Doug G Neighbor

9-10-2026 1:32pm

It should be stated that this mileage is going to raise the taxes for many homes by $800 per year (based on a $250K SEV). There has been no commitment that the 2.0 mil that currently exists will be replaced even though it is alluded to. That is a huge increase.

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Ali McDonald Neighbor

9-11-2026 8:14am

The Fire Dept. likely does have unmet needs. We have been in meetings where the Fire Chief has spoken and our impression has been that he is not fully transparent, massaging information to present a case to achieve what he wants rather than solidly and transparently defining reality and options.