Mountain Brook Debater Named A Member Of The USA Debate Team

MOUNTAIN BROOK, AL — Mountain Brook High School's debate team has a long history of excellence, and current team member Jane Gray Battle is keeping that tradition alive, as she was recently named to the USA Debate Team.

Battle, the state's top-ranked debater, is one of only 12 debaters nationwide to be named a member of the 2021-2022 USA Debate Team, and the first student from Alabama to be named to the team.

In 2018, Battle brought home a national championship in Middle School Public Forum Debate, earning Mountain Brook its first-ever National Speech and Debate Tournament championship title in this division.

As a high school student, she has championed the Alabama State Debate tournament three times. She's also been a qualifier to the National Speech and Debate tournament three times, as well, in Public Forum and Congressional Debate events, a feat that less than 1 percent of all student-members achieve even once.

This past summer, she and her debate partner, Maggie Doyle, advanced to quarterfinals in the national tournament, placing 7th out of 362 teams in the division, the highest level any Public Forum team from our state has advanced to since the inception of the event in 2002.

Battle serves as captain of the Mountain Brook debate team, is a member of the National Forensic League Honor Society, and has been named an Academic All-American. She has received the Outstanding Debate Departmental Award, the Bill Gunn Research Award, and is a recipient of the Clinton Taylor Scholarship.