Claire Ain and Edward Mu pride themselves on their ability to do it all. 

Or at least, do all that they can, in each of the many activities in which the Blue Valley North duo participates.

In fact, Ain and Mu have excelled in many pursuits over the last four years and have consistently brought home trophies to prove it.

Ain and Mu, this week's Capitol Federal® True Blue®  Students of the Week, earned the latest of those trophies by winning the Class 6A two-speaker debate state champions on Jan. 12-13 at Olathe North High School.

Ain and Mu won five straight elimination rounds to clinch the state title after the duo took fourth at state the previous season.

Although it was the duo’s first state championship in debate, and just the second two-speaker state title for the Blue Valley North program in its history, Ain and Mu have both had state success in other activities.

Mu won a state championship last year as a member of Blue Valley North’s Scholar’s Bowl team. He’s also made all-state for band and for piano, which included twice earning a Division I rating.

Ain does not have another KSHSAA state title, but her club soccer team won a state title in each of the past two seasons.

Even with the prior success across numerous types of competitions to build confidence, Ain said she still just felt a sigh of relief after clinching the state championship in debate.

“The biggest thing I felt was relief because I had been debating for over 12 hours that day,” Ain said. “We had a very long and stressful season. We had gotten fourth the year before, so we were ready to come back.

“Eddie and I were both like, ‘Okay, this is our year. This is our tournament. But as soon as we heard that finals decision, it was very much joy and relief. We were very happy with how our Kansas season concluded.”

Mu said that winning the state tournament has always been one of his biggest targets throughout his high school debate career. Really, it started before Mu had even started attending Blue Valley North. 

In 2020, Kelsie Fisher and Anushka Valsan won the two-speaker state title to win Blue Valley North’s fifth championship in the program’s history.

Mu remembers competing on the team the next year as a novice in ninth grade. He said joining a program that had just had that type of success created a great competitive atmosphere around the team.

“That is the reason why I was so fixated on (the state tournament) for a long time,” Mu said. “But as I got older and got more familiar with the debate scene, there’s a lot more national tournaments that I also thought were a big deal.”

Mu had previously attended a few debate camps and he was struck by how this activity offered a competition consisting of deep research and conversations regarding important topics.

“I really enjoyed the fact that the activity was primarily like being able to analyze different points of view, being able to really dig into the nitty grit of a subject and understand it with a great depth,” Mu said.

As a sophomore, Mu competed in two-speaker debate with Aarthi Toniappa, a senior at the time. 

“I really want to give credit to Aarthi and all of the other upperclassmen who mentored me, both in my sophomore year and also in other years, because they really helped me learn what it was like to be a high level debater.

“Aarthi really showed me what it takes to be competitive and to execute high level strategy.”

Ain spent her sophomore season competing in four-speaker before becoming Mu’s partner during both of their junior campaigns.

“I think Eddie and I thought, or  definitely knew, we could be the two to do it after our performance last year,” Ain said. “After just debating all of these teams so many times, we knew we had the capability to be like every single one of them, even if they were very, very talented.”

But Mu’s commitments to other activities like band would eventually reduce his debate schedule and prevent him from qualifying for national tournaments alongside his new partner in Ain, particularly during this year's debate season.

“So really that was my last chance to place first at a really big tournament,” Mu said.

Blue Valley North debate coach Brian Box said that the way Ain and Mu overcame their limited opportunities for competing together this season made their state title feel a little different than the program’s title in 2020.

Fisher and Valsan were favorites heading into that 2020 state tournament.

“Claire and Eddie, while not underdogs by any stretch, were in a different position entering the tournament,” Box said. “They debated together less than most of the other top teams in Kansas.” 

Box said there was a rocky period for these two at the end of the regular season, but they regained form in January and peaked at the right time.

For Mu, he admitted that high level debate competitors generally put in more time throughout the year, but he wasn’t going to let that be an excuse.

“Personally, I like to think of it as it’s not the amount of time that I put in, but the quality of the effort that I put in in the time that I have,” Mu said.

Mu noted that top debate competitors often attend debate camp between school years, which he missed heading into this season because of a summer internship.

Ain was able to attend a summer camp, which ultimately had a huge impact on their team’s state championship run. But the impact went well beyond the benefit of extra reps in debate competitions.

Ain attended a seven-week debate camp at the University of Michigan. As she walked to labs and lectures around campus, her and her friends would randomly start performing “The Griddy,” a dance move that went viral on TikTok in 2019.

“I don’t know why, but when I would walk to the labs or lectures with my friends, we’d always Griddy through the campus,” Ain said.

But when she returned to Kansas and her debate season kicked off with the Washburn Rural Invitational, she just started doing the dance between rounds.

In the moment, it made Ain smile to celebrate with that dance move and seemed to have a positive effect on her teammates as well.

“It would make the energy just much better, more positive,” Ain said.

That energy fit perfectly with how she wanted to lead the team, especially for the slew of sophomores who would step in as her partner for the tournaments where Mu was unavailable.

Ain said that was the case for maybe half of her tournaments this season, which she described as a great learning experience for those competitors and herself.

“I got this new perspective of debating and teaching younger debaters, like what it's like at the rigorous level of varsity,” she said. “But the main thing I wanted to do was just not create an atmosphere with a lot of pressure on them, because it's a very high level debate that they're not used to.”

Ain said her goal was to maintain a more fun experience for those younger competitors while getting their first look at the long and grueling debate tournaments.

Since the Griddy helped her achieve that throughout the season, she knew this tradition would be the perfect tool to help the team at state as well.

“My goal was to create a more positive atmosphere,” Ain said. “I know it’s a long tournament, it’s a hard tournament and (we) just really need to create this energy.”

So Ain would achieve that by hitting the Griddy at state after the team had a particular round, which happened early and often.

“I wish I had a better explanation or reason as to why, but I think it was just a good vibe thing for our team,” she said.

Mu agreed that Ain’s celebration lifted the team up.

“Absolutely, that always keeps the energy up,” Mu said. “Claire’s a super positive person. She has so much energy all the time.”

When asked why he did not join Ain by performing the Griddy himself, Mu’s only answer was that he’s not much of a dancer.

“I did Griddy with her after we won though,” he said.

Box left impressed with the way that the duo used things like that dance, and even Mu’s ability to take his mind off a debate for a stretch while catching some of the Kansas City Chiefs playing in the NFL playoffs that day.

“There are an exhausting number of emotional highs and lows during a tournament like this one, and both Claire and Eddie were calm and collected throughout,” Box said.

He added: “They kept the vibes high and locked in when it mattered. Semis and finals were extraordinarily close debates against amazing opponents, and we were thrilled to come out on top.”

For Mu, he admitted that high level debate competitors generally put in more times throughout the year, but he wasn’t going to let that be an excuse.

“Personally, I like to think of it as it’s not the amount of time that I put in, but the quality of the effort that I put in in the time that I have,” Mu said.

Mu noted that top debate competitors often attend debate camp between school years, which he missed heading into this season because of a summer internship.

But Ain and Mu were able to return to the grind this season by going 5-1 at the Washburn Rural Invitational, advancing to the quarterfinals.

“That sort of showed me that it doesn’t matter if I didn’t attend debate camp, or if I didn’t have all the extensive training that other people had,” Mu said. “Because if I put in the effort that was not only targeted and focused, but also more efficient than other people, then I could sort of match the extra time that they gained.”

Mu said he kept the level of persistence to close that gap of time, or reps, with his effort.

“I think at state, it really helped us because we sort of focused our preparation strategy exclusively on what we needed to win and not preparing for things that wouldn’t tip the (scales), or wouldn’t change the line that much in our favor.

“I think that efficient strategy really helped Claire and I this year.”

This was also not a foreign concept for Ain, who also juggles a litany of extracurricular activities throughout her high school career.

Outside of her school’s season in the spring, Ain said that she traveled almost every single weekend to compete with her club team in soccer tournaments across the country throughout middle school and high school.

Her club team won back-to-back state championships during her sophomore and junior years. Last year, the Mustangs reached the regional finals and finished the season with a 11-6-1 record. The team lost 1-0 against Shawnee Mission East on their way to a state runner-up finish.

“This will be my first time having the same coach twice, which is nice,” Ain said. “The varsity team is looking very strong and I’m very excited for my last season.”

Ain said the team has a strong group of juniors backing up her and the rest of the senior class, which makes her optimistic for the team making a deep playoff run. She’s hoping that will translate into her winning a state title once again.

In addition to debate and soccer, Ain also played on the Mustangs’ girls basketball team as a freshman and sophomore while also participating in DECA and SBLA. Ain is also a member of Blue Valley North’s student council, serving on its executive board.

For StuCo, Ain said she really enjoys the group’s opportunities to plan events, including back-to-school festivities and Homecoming.

“Every year we meet over the summer right before the school year starts,” she said. “The day almost everybody comes (back) in, we decorate the hallways. I think it’s always very fun and good lighthearted environment, but it also shows how much work we put into making our school look super good for this week of the year.”

Ain said StuCo also helps make Blue Valley North’s assemblies stand out from the norm for most schools. She said for their Homecoming assembly specifically that they put on different mini-games for each grade to create a fun, competitive environment alongside the parts showcasing the Homecoming nominees.

“I know other Blue Valley schools definitely don’t do (that) during their assemblies,” she said.

In addition to debate and band, Mu also competes in the Science Olympiad and is a member of the National Honors Society, Math National Honors Society and is president of Blue Valley North’s Asian American Club.

Despite the scheduling conflicts, Mu feels that his time away from debate actually gave him a clear advantage in that arena as well.

“In band, obviously you have to use a lot of air and a lot of volume to support your playing, especially if you want to be loud,” Mu said.

His band teacher Daniel Freeman always stresses the importance of proper inhale techniques to fill lung capacity beyond your normal breath.

Mu has found that skill to come in handy for speed reading in debate.

“That involves a high volume of air, a high concentration of air, and a really good inhale,” Mu said. “Using the technique that I learned from Mr. Freeman through band, I was able to advance my speed reading skills a lot. I think that’s a really fun cross application there.”

Mu also sharpens his mental skills with Scholar’s Bowl. He originally joined the team after being introduced to the activity by former debate teammate Lizzie Place. At the 2023 state debate tournament, Place and Lily Ren finished as the 6A state runner-up 2-speaker team.

“I thought that it was an interesting twist on activity,” he said. “It’s just like taking a test.”

Mu won a state championship as a member of the six-person team in the state tournament last fall. The Mustangs went 7-0 in pool play, finishing with an 165-point advantage over the next highest scoring team. They needed to pull off a narrow victory in the semifinals, but delivered an 80-50 performance over Manhattan in the finals to secure the program’s second straight championship.

Mu said one of the key’s in Scholar’s Bowl is putting together a well-rounded roster. That means having individuals who excel in different subjects. Mu gave the Mustangs a competitor with strengths in both math and the arts, specifically music.

While Mu has hopes up helping the Mustangs complete a three-peat in Scholar’s Bowl, Ain will turn her attention to returning to state for speech and drama. She qualified each of the last three years in extemporaneous speaking and informative speaking. Now she’s hoping to complete her high school career with type performance.

The duo will have one more chance to compete together at the National Debate Coaches Association Nationals in April at Indiana University. 

After that, Ain and Mu will both turn their attention to college. Neither has made a form commitment on which school they’ll attend, but both have great prospects lined up. Both also want to stay connected to debate, in one fashion or another.

Ain still plans to debate in the college ranks. Mu said he’s not sure if he’ll do the same, noting that it might hinge on which school he ultimately selects. But Mu added that he definitely wants to stay connected to debate in at least one capacity.

“I will definitely do my best to stay connected to the high school debate scene by helping the (Blue Valley North) debate team at tournaments and judging rounds when I am available,” Mu said. 

Ain said a lot of the schools she’s applied to have a policy debate team. She said that her interest in pursuing law, after she completes a business economics or political science degree as an undergraduate, means there ended up being a natural overlap with her focus of college choices and those schools having competitive debate programs.

Ain gave a partial short list of schools which included the University of Michigan and Indiana University, as well as the Los Angeles and Berkeley campuses at the University of California. She’s also waiting to hear back from the University of Virginia and Northeastern among a few other competitive schools.

Ain also wants to find a way to give back to debate even if college debate ends up not quite fitting into her plans.

“There’s a good chance I’ll continue debate in college wherever I go,” Ain said. “If it’s somewhere local, hopefully I can coach debate and give back to a community that helps me so much. That’s definitely the goal.”

Ain said part of her decision making on colleges is finding a school that is highly competitive, but also retains an appealing social atmosphere, which could include a debate team.

Mu has already received admission to a handful of his top choices, but he is waiting to get a more thorough picture on how much financial aid he’ll be offered at each of those institutions. He’s also still sizing up the undergraduate resources available in relation to his chosen field.

Mu plans to pursue an Energy Science and Engineering degree at Stanford University, or a chemical engineering degree at the University of Kansas or Purdue University.

“I am looking at a career pathway involved in renewable energy,” Mu said.

If only My could discover a way to create a technology that could harness the energy that Ain provided with the Griddy throughout their run to the state championship.