Speech and Debate argues to the top
From podium stands to home desk chairs, the Speech and Debate team brings their A-game online. Debaters at the school have excelled in their first tournaments of the year, scoring high and even undefeated across numerous events as their new season starts.
Adi Chattopadhyay, sophomore, has been on the debate team for two years and noted some significant changes from the previous years. He believes that competing in online tournaments does have its benefits. “I think it’s a lot less intense because you don’t have an audience, you just have the judge. It’s also nice because you can get new evidence in between rounds and relax after,” Chattopadhyay said.
Despite the differences, the rewards of winning keep the debaters motivated, including Ananya Arvind, freshman. “It’s not like you get your awards in person…but like there’s still that anticipation because we didn’t know which rounds we won… when they were announcing the people who won three wins, it was really shocking and it was a different experience at the same time,” Arvind said.
Speech and Debate welcomes members of any experience level. Owen Payton, junior, joined the team this year with some prior interest but no involvement in the program. “We do a lot of practice rounds with other people and there are some people who do little events,” Payton said.
Even though this was Payton’s first year on the speech and debate team, he managed to pull through to the semi-finals alongside partner Alek Fodor, junior, at the Claremont Bargain Belt invitational. “I was surprised at first because it was my first time, but then I had to get into the debate mindset,” Payton explained. “Overall, it felt good but was unexpected.”
Though many have been in contact with other members, the social aspects of tournaments have definitely changed. “When we went in-person, it was really fun. You get to work with your school and connect with everyone participating. It’s a more friendly social environment rather than like this one [being online],” Arvind said. Even though being in-person is an important factor when it comes to debating, COVID-19 will not stop the team from winning.
