Senior Joel Cortes has debated at Phoenix for four years for fun and education. He prepares himself by doing research to be able to debate. Debating is a sport that requires a lot of planning, research and persistence in order to prepare for a competition.

Debate has prepared him for his career path, which is political science and become a politician.

“ I think debating is hard, it takes a lot of you, its competitive. I really find it to be challenging my mind, to think about real world things, such as politics, immigration, education, foreign policy, it really just help you challenge your mind,“ said  Cortes.

Cortes has traveled to a couple schools such as Stanford University, Emory University, University of Kentucky, Whitney Young High School and Allstate Headquarters to compete.

“ I’m planning to go to Harvard this February,“ said Cortes.

Cortes wants to pursue a career being a politician later on in the future.

“I plan to debate in college and continue to finish my debate career there and hopefully be successful in college,“ said Cortes.