JHop’s Speech and Debate Club snagged two spots in the trivia category at the regional Florida Civics and Debate Initiative tournament last month at Tyrone Middle School.

Seventh-graders Dexter Tas placed first and Aurora Nikkel placed third.

Another notable Trojan entry was seventh-grader Sophia Nikkel’s speech about the phenomenon of misophonia, which is a fear of triggering noises like slurping and crunching. She placed sixth in the speech category.

Clubs from schools along the Gulf Coast participated in the tournament to debate politics, global issues, and other topics. The debaters must argue for both sides.

Nikkel said that she and her team had fun at the event, which was the first for the new JHop debate team.

Tas said that he prepared for his trivia event by using acronyms to help him remember things more effectively.

“It’s way less complicated than it sounds,” Tas says about the trivia category. “I was just very happy that we had such great results in our first year.”

The club’s next FCDI tournament is March 7 at Weeki Wachee High School.