The Plano Senior High School Wildcat Debate Team won the 2015-16 International Public Policy Forum (IPPF) Debate World Championship on April 2 at New York University in New York City, defeating East Ridge High School from Minnesota in the final debate.

The competition is sponsored by both the Brewer Foundation and NYU.

As a result of winning the competition the team won the “Brewer Cup”, in addition to a $10,000 prize, with $5,000 going to the school and $5,000 going to the team itself.

Established in 2001, the IPPF provides students from around the world with an opportunity to debate both in writing and orally on issues relating to public policy. The competition began in October as over 200 schools submitted a qualifying round essay on the chosen IPPF topic. An essay review committee then determined which schools advanced to the top 64 round of the competition, before the field was reduced to 32, 16 and then eight.

Those final eight schools won all-expenses-paid trips to New York City for the IPPF Finals Weekend, where the teams competed in both written and oral debates in front of a panel of judges.

The Wildcat Debate Team defeated Hamilton High School from Arizona in the quarterfinal round and the St. Paul Academy and Summit School from Minnesota in the semifinal round before reaching the finals against East Ridge.