Debate has always been an extracurricular activity in which Barstow has excelled, with students making it to the top levels of tournaments. Over the past four years, Barstow has been proud to have numerous successes from alumni Sam Short ‘19, Taha Fanaswala ‘19, Jacqueline Tingle ‘21, Amanda Munsell ‘20, Rishi Malay ‘21, and Phoebe Brous ‘21. With such a strong legacy of debate, how will the current debaters in the upper school perform in the 2021-2022 season?
Senior debater Avisha Pandey ‘22 had some input about how COVID-19 has affected the season, “Because of COVID, all of our tournaments moved online last year. So this year we are attempting to debate some in-person… but we are also trying to create more of a debate tournament vibe to foster that kind of environment. That will be a good way for us to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.”
President Niki Adma ‘22 also spoke about what the team is doing to prepare for the season, “Our team has weekly work nights every Wednesday.” “Sometimes we’ll have practice debates, sometimes we’ll have drills, sometimes it’s just us talking to the coaches or working with sophomores. Recently, some novices have started attending, and I think they will start attending more and more, but these weekly practices are a good way for us to get practice in,” she said.
Because there are fewer seniors and more underclassmen, Adma ‘22 also gave insight into the team chemistry, “It is definitely the opposite of what we were used to when we were that age, but getting to know them has been pretty fun and we’re honestly able to learn a lot from them just as much as we’re able to teach them. Teaching them has also helped us understand the things we’re debating better.”
The first tournament, the JW Patterson Invitational, was from October 8th to October 10th, and the debate team performed exceptionally well. Barstow had nine teams competing in all three divisions including JV, varsity, and novice. In varsity, Adma ‘22 and Pandey ‘22 went 3-3, and partners Owen Snyder ‘24 and Quinn Luce ‘23 also went 3-3.
In the JV division, sophomores Ava Levin ‘24 and Paranjay Sharma ‘24 won the Round Robin without losing a single debate. Sophomores Sriram Pattabiraman ‘24 and Jayden Sampat ‘24 also took third place overall in JV with only two total losses. Pattabirman ‘24 and Matthew Gill ‘24 would also clear to the top sixteen of the Heart of Texas tournament the following weekend.
In the novice division, freshmen Chase Mulligan ‘25 and Eli Zeldin ‘25 went 2-2 and Tyler Bauman ‘25 and Rashid Sood ‘25 finished 1-3. Margo Gonzales ‘25 and Mahek Vora ‘25 finished in the top four of the Gold Division and Aaryan Gadit ‘25 finished in the top two of the Bronze Division debating without a partner. Overall, this weekend went very well for Barstow debate, bringing home multiple trophies and awards.
Since opening weekend, the Barstow debate team has competed at four total tournaments, including one in-person tournament at Kansas City Kansas Community College.
Coming from previous years with such strong success, current debaters have big shoes to fill. The team has been participating in practices for weeks now, and they appear ready to perform.
Barstow competes primarily in the Tournament of Champions (TOC) debate circuit. TOC competition is the highest level for high school students to compete. A TOC appearance is always difficult to attain as it requires two “bids,” meaning a team must reach the semi-finals during at least two tournaments in one of the most competitive circuits in the country. However, the debaters are ready for the challenges that this season will bring.
