Debate Team Stars Started as Rivals
From Foes to Friends
By DAVID CHAPEK/Staff Writer
Not long ago, Leilani Hurtado and Zach Stansbery were foes as stars on opposing high school debate teams. Today the two have joined forces to become one of UT Tyler’s top debate pairs.
“We were on opposing teams,” Hurtado said. “If you told us back then that we would be later partners in university, I don’t think either of us would have ever believed you.”
Leilani Hurtado and Zach Stansbery compete as a team for UT Tyler debate. In high school they competed against each other. Photo courtesy of David Chapek
Hurtado competed for Whitehouse High School and Stansbery for rival Hallsville High School.
When they came to UT in the spring semester 2023, it “just worked out” that they ended up competing together, Stansbery said.
“Zachary, in and of himself, has always been such a great guy, and so I’m really happy to be competing with him,” Hurtado said.
Stansbery heartily agreed that it is better being on the same side with Hurtado.
FORMIDABLE PAIR
UT Tyler Debate Coach Joseph Provencher put Hurtado and Stansbery together.
“They are both good debaters, obviously, but the particular things they do well, they do very differently, which makes them an excellent complement to each other, and as a partnership, the total package,” he said.
They became a winning combination.
This spring, they qualified for the National Parliamentary Debate Association championship, and placed 16th. And then the fall semester came, and with it, their first full year of college debate competition.
They placed fifth at the first fall tournament and then won the second tournament, which was only the fourth university debate competition. At that tournament, they also took home first-place and third-place speaker awards.
“The tournament was a success,” Hurtado said in a slight understatement.
The pair works well together, Provencher said.
“With parli debate being a partnered event, where different partners give different speeches in the round, having a partner who excels in one skill set, while having the other excel in other areas, can create quite the formidable pair,” he said.
Provencher said they are also good debaters because they both work hard.
“They are both incredibly driven and disciplined students who put a lot of time and effort into improving,” he said.
BEING A BETTER PERSON
Hurtado and Stansbery say that debate gives them purpose.
“Growing up, I had always been really interested in following the news, and in following politics,” Hurtado said of her journey into the debate world. “So, whenever I got to high school where they were offering debate, I walked into the teachers’ classroom, and I was like, ‘I want to debate.’”
Debate has helped Hurtado find her voice.
“I feel like I’ve always had that drive and ambition to be involved in a space where I can have a voice,” she said. “I’ve really yearned for a space where I could talk freely and use my voice for good.”
Stansbery said both of them want to share their passion about debate with others.
“This is something we believe in, and we want to educate people on and expose people to this critical way of thinking,” he said.
Stansbery and Hurtado say their pairing is much more than about winning trophies. Their relationship has gone from rivalry to an incredible friendship – one that Stansbery describes as life changing.
“You (as debate partners) build friendships that not only challenge you academically, and challenge you to be a better person, and to research, but they also build you, and just help you want to be that person, that better person,” he said.
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