The Brewer Foundation and New York University are proud to announce the “Top 64” teams for the 20th annual International Public Policy Forum (IPPF) –  the first and only contest that gives high school students around the world the opportunity to engage in written and oral debates on issues of public policy.

 

This year’s qualifying round involved submissions from more than 180 teams, representing schools in 18 countries and 25 U.S. states. In fact, the IPPF received more entries this year than it has since 2016– making this year highly competitive.

 

The IPPF would like to thank all of its student competitors for taking part in the contest. The essays were exceptionally well-written and well-researched.  

 

Below, you will find a list of advancing teams in alphabetical order. Given that some schools entered more than one essay, the names of the students on the advancing teams are included below. 

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2020-21 IPPF Top 64 Teams:

 

A&M Consolidated High School, College Station, Texas

Students: Lars Deutz, Allen Zhang, Celine Choi, Melinda Li, Ruby Perry-Mize, Claire Wang

The Academy for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering, Rockaway, New Jersey

Students: Thomas Y. Chen, Koda E. Gursoy, Dmitri Anh-Minh C. Tran 

Alpharetta High School, Alpharetta, Georgia

Students: Senadzi Kpeglo, Archita Gaur, Emma Huey, Pranav Kalaga, Saketh Kanamuri

Amity Regional High School, Woodbridge, Connecticut

Students: Simran Jain, Yuqi Liu, Daniel Liu, Sophia Liu, Melinda Lu, Mingyue Zha, Anny Zheng

Arcadia High School, Arcadia, California

Students: Catherine Chan, Henry Hsieh, Merrick Hua, Michelle Lee, Margaret Lin, Evelyn Lo

Areté Speech and Debate Club, Ovilla, Texas

Students: Alyssa Mills, Ben Brown, Josh Dooley

BASIS Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona

Students: Katelyn Cai, Madhura Shembekar, Karsen Wahal

Blue Valley High School, Stilwell, Kansas

Students: Carson C. Hunter, Nikhil Reddy, Arish Ali, Zoe Best, Krishi Vanamamaly, Tim Okeowo

Burbank Senior High School, Burbank, California

Students: Sungjoo Yoon, Matthew L. Baker, Brenton S. Lewis

Centennial High School, Frisco, Texas

Students: Parth Wokhlu, Sai Bommineni, Aayan Rahat, Sriya Singh, Ananya Singh, Arav Chhedda, Arjun Ramprasad, Nathan Zhou, Veer Waje, Shivansh Nikhra

Clear Creek High School, League City, Texas

Students: Nathaniel Overby, Hayden Rinehart, Kabir Bajaj, Grant Griffin, Jonathan Dawson, Farden Kahn

Colchester High School, Colchester, Vermont

Students: Trisa Timsina, Prinsha Neupane, Fariha Nawar

Cross Team, Bangalore, India

Students: Mihir Yedur, Akarsh Pahuja, Aumita Mishra

Czech Debate Association, Prague, Czech Republic

Students: Nicolas Ivanov, Matej Marek, Filip Vrto, Barbora Pospisilova, Katerina Rousarova, Aneta Kahleová

The Davidson Academy of Nevada, Reno, Nevada

Students: Claire Burkhardt, Erika Filter, Caitlin Hamilton, Sandeep Maligireddy, Julianna Schneider

duPont Manual High School, Louisville, Kentucky

Students: Smrithi Balasubramanian, Elizabeth Gallagher, Pranav Kanmadikar, Dhiraj Kanneganti, Romith Paily, Arthi Sundar, Zain Tariq

East Mountain High School, Sandia Park, New Mexico

Students: Aubrey Amon, Suzanne Eisenberg, Holden McDaniel

Enreach, Beijing, China

Students: Yurou Liu, Kaixin Yang, Yikun Shen

Enreach Shanghai, Shanghai, China

Students: Arthur Zhao, Bowen Duan, Joshua Che, Rachel Fei

Hamilton High School, Chandler, Arizona

Students: Orli Sanyal, Anusha Rahman, Medha Tambe, Taneesha Kapadia

Hathaway Brown School, Shaker Heights, Ohio

Students: Alice Lin, Eesha Talasila, Emily Wilson

Hobby School of Ulaanbaatar, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Students: Engun Khaliun, Khongorjin Bat-Erdene, Namuundari Negi, Ochir Batzorig, Tsatsral Sainchuluu

The Hockaday School, Dallas, Texas

Students: Cassie Liu, Naz Soysal, Mia Xia

Hunter College High School, New York, New York

Students: Gaang Choi, Jazmyn Wang, Joseph Karaganis, Josephine O’Brien

Hwa Chong Institution, Singapore

Students: Huang Yi Chen, Shieh Wensy, Tan Tai Cheng

Ivy Bridge Academy, Carrollton, Georgia
Students: Tianyu Dong, Benjamin Moon, Prakhar Gupta, Omer Mujawar, Alex Doan, Aanan Biswas, Nina Thakur, Elly Kang, Brian Shon, Noah Yoon, Matthew Kim

John Handley High School, Winchester, Virginia

Students: Cristian Romo, Neil Parikh, Nikil Shyamsunder

Kealakehe High School, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Students: Luke Uganiza, Jahnea Ordona, Jordan Barcenillla, Jolina Anderson, Kekoa Kiefer, Sarah Cunningham

Kerr High School, Houston, Texas

Students: Sheila Nguyen, Danial Syed, Hannah Ghebrelul, Joshua Romero, Sarah Qaiser

Kugnus Acts, Closter, New Jersey

Students: Kevin Shen, Brian Pae, Jonathan Pae, Celine Hong, Jack Liu

Ladue Horton Watkins High School, St. Louis, Missouri

Students: Varsha Arun, Marissa Mathieson, Oviya Srihari, Joanne Sung, Danielle Zhang

Lambert High School, Suwanee, Georgia

Students: Bobby Missell, Alice Huh, Prajwal Saokar, Varnica Basavaraj, Sophie Khan

Livingston High School, Livingston, New Jersey

Students: Aditya Desai, Parker Fong, Stanly Shukhman, Selena Zhu

Peak to Peak Charter School, Lafayette, Colorado

Students: Bryce Li, Nivedita Prabhu, Bronwyn Busby, Alvina Zhang

Macdonald-Cartier High School, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Students: Aicha Barry, Tyanne Ewing-bui, Larina Hansen 

Millburn High School, Millburn, New Jersey

Students: Beatrice Han, Agnes Han, Rose Gao

Ministry of Education, Singapore

Students: Caleb Wern Shih Loh, Tajei Han Puthucheary, J Harith Menon, Shayna Leng Shuen Rea, Raphael Niu Zi Yuan

Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring, Maryland

Students: Jonathan Wen, Alex Jiang

New Hope Academy (Team 1), Torrance, California
Students: JungErn (Ernie) Kim, Jacqueline Chang, Hongju Cho

New Hope Academy (Team 2), Torrance, California

Students: Donovan Hwang, Jennifer Kim, Kevin Kim, Ryan Kang

North Allegheny Senior High School, Wexford, Pennsylvania

Students: Liam Mercader, Satvik Palagani, Alok Shah, Zayaan Tirmizi

Northview High School, Johns Creek, Georgia

Students: Eileen Chen, Christie Peng, Mridula Sudhakar 

Notre Dame High School, Sherman Oaks, California

Students: Alex Gerson, Vahan Haytayan, Nicholas Monsour, Jayden Sengul

Pine-Richland High School, Gibsonia, Pennsylvania

Students: Michael Allessi, Miles Brown, Charles Rudolph, Joshua Pazin, Victor Williams

Potomac Oak, Rockville, Maryland

Students: Evelyn Shue, Kristen Wang, Amanda Wu, Emily Wu

Raffles Institution, Singapore

Students: Grace Elizabeth Ho, Ong Yen Hng Elden, Tan Boon Jun Benedict, Russell Choy Chern-En, Samyuktha Pugalanthi

Red Arc Debate, Toronto, Canada

Students: Elizabeth Zhu, Julia Wright, Yong Qi Deng

Richard Montgomery High School, Rockville, Maryland

Students: Feileen Li, Hana O’Looney-Goto, Ishanvi Malayanil

Ridge High School, Basking Ridge, New Jersey

Students: Benny Sun, James Zhang, Gordon Li, Gargi Koul, Samarth Nagaraj, Aniket Rai

St. Mark's School of Texas (Team 1), Dallas, Texas

Students: David Yang, Michael Anderson, Ned Tagtmeier, Aayush Goodapaty, Luke Annett

St. Mark's School of Texas (Team 2), Dallas, Texas

Students: Zayn Bhimani, Max Chuang, Ian Lin, Anish Guddati

Slovak National Team, Bratislava, Slovakia
Students: Ema Križanová, Natália Michalcová, Martin Janco, Žofia Kováčová

Students 2 Speak, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Students: Hao Ni, Elizabeth Li, Kevin Han, Emma Chi

Team Springboard Debate United, Beijing, China

Students: Natasha Chen, Anna Chen, Markus Song, Neil Li, Joy Li, X.K. Lin

Troy High School, Troy, Michigan

Students: Niheera Aedla, Om Shah, Sohan Vittalam

Union County Academy for Allied Health Sciences, Scotch Plains, New Jersey

Students: Elizabeth Ni, Marisa Singh, Sukhmani Grover

Union County Vocational Technical Schools, Scotch Plains, New Jersey

Students: Maya Dias, Sayee Edekar, Aashi Mishra, Kevin Sun, Felix Yu

University High School (Team 1), Tucson, Arizona

Students: Naina Bhamidipati, Rohan Bose, Diego Calderon, Christina Chen, Rachel Dai, Serena Huaraque

University High School (Team 2), Tucson, Arizona

Students: Mia Contreras, Riana Guinanao, Gabriela Navarro

Valley Regional High School, Deep River, Connecticut

Students: Julia Donahue, Anna Benson, Reagan Doyon

Vienna International School, Vienna, Austria

Students: Gregor Kossmann, Daniel Salaru, Armin Lassl

Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Students: Maisha Tasneem, Nahian Rashha, Sultana Razia, Tajreen Tabassum Nushba

WSDC Team Vietnam, Hanoi, Vietnam

Students: Gia-Han B. Pham, Jeongha Kim, Minh-Khoi Dam, Tuan-Hung Ha

Woodward Academy, College Park, Georgia

Students: Ashna Ghanate, Praval Kandimalla, Isabella Orkin Emmanuel

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Advancing teams will receive an e-mail with additional information. 

 

You can click here to see a PDF of the IPPF bracket, which includes the pairings for the written rounds of the competition and notes the side (affirmative or negative) assigned to each team.

 

The “Top 64” teams will now compete in a single-elimination, written debate tournament. Teams will continue to debate the topic,“Resolved: The benefits of artificial intelligence outweigh the harms.”Essays will be volleyed back and forth via e-mail and judges will select the advancing teams. This format continues until the final eight teams emerge. Those teams earn an opportunity to compete in the oral debate finals for the $10,000 grand prize!

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For those teams that did not advance, your evaluation forms and certificates of participation will be mailed to you.

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On behalf of the Brewer Foundation and NYU, thank you to every team and student that submitted an essay. The judges were impressed by the submissions!