Heritage High School to Host Debate Tournament

March 4, 2025 

ROGERS -- On Saturday, March 15, Rogers Heritage High School will host the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation debate tournament.

It is an honor for Heritage High School to become the first public high school to host an event that has never been held in the Natural State.

This is a one-day tournament with an open/varsity division. Students in grades 9-12 are invited to enter. Several dozen students from Massachusetts, Tennessee, New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri have registered for this competition. Registration is open through March 11.

The top four winners will each receive an invitation to the 2025 Coolidge Cup, which is a national invitational speech and debate tournament sponsored by the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation and held in Plymouth, Vt., in July to compete for $20,000 in scholarships. Also, the four winners are entered into the American Speech and Debate Association Championship in Dallas in May.

To start the day, keynote speaker Jeff Cooperstein, Adjunct Professor of Economics, Microeconomics, and Macroeconomics at the University of Arkansas, will discuss the topic competitors will use in their debates. Cooperstein is also a senior researcher with the Walton College of Business Center of Business and Economic Research, and his primary focus is The Skyline Report, sponsored by Arvest Bank.

The topic for the competition will be “Resolved: On balance, increasing tariffs on Mexico benefits the United States’ economy.” We invite our media partners to hear our students as they tackle this subject in the Coolidge 1v1 debate format.

Participants will arrive on March 15 at 8:30 a.m. with awards concluding by 5:30 p.m. 

Registration: https://coolidgefoundation.org/debate/national-debate-tournament-series/coolidge-arkansas-open/#:~:text=Registration%20for%20Judges 

Rogers Heritage High School is located at 1114 S. 5th Street in Rogers. 

Contact

Wayne Levering, Heritage High School Debate
(479)790-7220
wayne.levering@rpsar.net 

Jonathan Peele, Calvin Coolidge Presidential Debate Foundation
jpeele@coolidgefoundation.org