On Saturday, October 21, Hen Hud’s Speech and Debate team traveled to the Bronx to compete at the NYCFL All Speech and Debate Tournament.
Hundreds of students from all over the state gathered at the Bronx School of Science to participate in events ranging from dramatic literary monologue performances to organized public forum debates. Hen Hud’s Speech and Debate team focused on competing against teams from other New York high schools in the “Lincoln Douglas” (LD) debate style.
LD debating involves each team arguing a “pro” or “con” case developed prior to the competition. Participants are notified just before their match who they will be competing against and what side of the argument they have to argue.
At this competition, the topic up for dispute was whether or not the United States should increase its military presence in the Arctic. Debaters have to consider the real current events that might affect this decision, like the war between Ukraine and Russia, and how a U.S presence in the Arctic may help or harm the country and/or the world.
Hen Hud’s teams consisted of Castalia Litos and Eloise Dyer, competing at the Varsity level, Sarah Nabi and Alec Elkin at Junior Varsity, and Kasvi Thakor and Theresa Gyapong at Novice. Elizabeth Apienti shadowed Mr. Cina, the club’s advisor, who acted as a tournament judge.
The Junior Varsity team took home a win against the Bronx High School of Science, ranking 21st amongst the dozens of JV teams competing that day. Competitively high speaker points – points awarded for overall presentation and articulation of their side – were won across all of Hen Hud’s three teams.
Participating in such events is challenging; debate members “put hours into research and preparation” into their arguments prior to the tournament according to the Speech and Debate President, Castalia Litos (not to mention the time spent huddling over computers to edit arguments right before they are to be presented). But, she says that “it all pays off with experiences” like the one the club had on Saturday. “We went against hard schools,” she says, “but we did really well and I’m proud of everyone’s performances.”
Mr. Cina, the club’s advisor, acknowledges that “debate requires a considerable amount of effort and tenacity,” but “that’s one of the most important parts of debate in terms of the skills it teaches students.” When asked what those skills might be, he explained that debate involves “the performance aspect, the confidence aspect, the public speaking, the research element, the collaboration element, and the working alongside a team,” all of which contribute to student’s developing their abilities to work with challenges they may face in their own lives.
At the end of the day, acquiring skills like those via debate is “something that can really only be done through this competitive format.” Mr. Cina added that it is “impressive to see the students do that year after year.”
