After the 2022-2023 debate season, the team looks back to see what can make next year even better.
This year’s debate season was certainly one to remember. There were some changes at the very beginning of the season, but the team was able to overcome these challenges and create a solid team for the next season.
“I feel like the season has gone pretty well for me this year. Our team went through many changes in partnerships and our style of debate but I feel like it ended up being for the better,” Ava Levin (‘24) said.
This solid foundation from this year will hopefully carry on into next year and make sure the beginning goes smoothly.
This season, the team was able to have a quasi-normal season after two years of largely online competition. Most of their tournaments were in person, having only two online, versus last year where every tournament happened through a platform like Zoom, but only for debaters. They were also able to go to different places such as Iowa for the Iowa City Tournament and the Iowa Caucus, but also Las Vegas for the UNLV Tournament.
The most recent tournament the team went to was Iowa City/Kanellis, a tough finisher for the team.
“I think we did the best at UNLV because we made it to the break round, and it was overall a really good tournament. The Kanellis tournament was a good end to the season because it was a really hard tournament and put our skills to the test,” Jayden Sampat (‘24) said.
While the season did not go exactly how the squad hoped, Barstow’s debaters are looking forward to next year.
“To improve as a team, I think we should try to practice a more diverse amount of arguments and have more practice debates. Overall, getting to know each other better as a team would create a stronger team dynamic,” Levin suggested.
“Next year, I’m going to work on running counter plans and evidence applications. In general time management and willingness to work on things,” Haddie Schedler (‘25) said.
An interesting part of this year was the team only had one senior to turn to. Kimberly Nguyen (‘23) was the reigning senior for this year, and she certainly helped the team.
“Kimberly has carried the team this year, she spent her time highlighting 800-900 pages of evidence. We couldn’t have done it without her,” Sampat said enthusiastically.
As the dust from this season settles, some debaters also achieved more than they realized. Paranjay Sharma ‘24 received the prestigious National Speech and Debate Association Academic All-American Award. This award, which only 2% of high school debaters ever receive, is given to students whose unweighted GPA is a 3.7 or better and have at least 750 NSDA points. Students earn these points through competition; they get six points for a win and three points for a loss. That means even if you never lost a single debate, it would take 125 rounds to reach Academic All-American status. That’s over 250 hours of competition!
This dedication extends into the summer when many students attend debate camps. Many of the novices (first year debaters) will attend a five week long camp on Gonzaga’s campus, while others with more experience will be headed to the University of California – Berkeley and the University of Michigan.
Overall, the team had a great season and they hope the next will be even better! You can follow the team for updates on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
