Barstow’s debate team prepares for its first round of tournaments.
Policy debate at Barstow started in 2011. Since then, the Barstow debate team has racked up dozens of awards and honorary titles. The 2023-2024 debate team is gearing up for their first set of tournaments, Trevian and J.W. Patterson, and they let us know how the preseason has gone so far.
Both Mr. Gabe Cook, the Head Debate Coach, and Ms. Lucia Scott, the Varsity Debate Coach and B-Line Advisor, agree that the start of the season has gone really well. “Lots of kids went to debate camps over the summer,” says Ms. Scott, “I’m excited to see what they can do with what they learned this year.”
“I’m always really excited for the start of the year because we get to start out with silly debates to get students comfortable with that environment. It’s led to some strange debates that are really entertaining,” adds Mr. Cook.
The debate team is separated into Varsity and Novice teams, much like the athletic teams at Barstow.
The Novice team includes, Sky Maciver ‘26, Charlotte Turner ‘26, Gage Elton ‘27, Alex Dean ‘26, Syd Westphal ‘27, Mohammad Abu bakr ‘27, Sanjana Akkulugari ‘26, Duha Azaz ‘27, Oliva Richards ‘26, Mikey Kulp ‘27, Rex Parker ‘27, Adi Restogi ‘27, and Lex Schlesener ‘27.
The Varsity team is made up of Tyler Bauman ‘25, Kevin Gill ‘25, Matthew Gill ‘24, Margo Gonzalez ‘25, Darin Goodman ‘26, Aun Hathiari ‘26, Ava Adams-Huang ‘25, Ezra Jacobs ‘26, Ethan Jiang ‘26, Ava Levin ‘24, Elliott Osman ‘26, Eshan Patel ‘26, Jayden Sampat ‘24, Haddie Schedler ‘25, Paranjay Sharma ‘24, Owen Snyder ‘25, Rish Sood ‘25, Romina Taghizadeh ‘26, Rohan Thomas ‘26, and Sarah Villacorta ‘26.
The topic this year is “economic inequality. The debate community chose to organize it around basic income, federal job guarantee, and foreign social security,” according to Ms. Scott.
“The topic this year is an important one,” says Mr. Cook, “The exact phrasing of the topic could’ve been a little better, since it’s a little limiting, but I’m still really excited to discuss [it].”
Members on the team themselves have differing opinions. For instance, Jayden Sampat ‘24, “[likes] the topic. There’s a substantial amount of arguments to be made on either side.”
Haddie Schedler ‘25 disagrees, saying, “The international topic had more areas of discussion last year on either side of the aff and neg. It made for a better range in debates. This one is not all that interesting when you’re talking at 350 wpm.”
Tyler Bauman ‘25 leans that direction as well, saying, “most of what the affirmative is saying is just a good idea, or mostly right. It’s difficult to debate if you don’t go for certain strategies.”
Many of the debate team members agree that last year was a building year. “Last season was an excellent example of what happens when there isn’t a lot of leadership,” says Ms. Scott. “One of the things I’m excited about this year is that we’ve got a lot of excellent juniors and seniors. I expect we’ll have two teams in consistent contention for T.O.C. (Tournament of Champions) bids, and many others who will get close throughout the season.”
“We have at least one really good team who’s going to be competitively successful, and it’s exciting because they deserve it. I’m excited to see where the novices go by the end of the season” says Haddie Schedler ‘25.
“Last year’s season was alright, a building year, and there was lots of learning and reading. I’m happy with how the season ended given the circumstances, and I expect this season to go really well. We’re putting in the work to do better,” says Jayden Sampat ‘24.
Their predictions proved right at the Trevian Invitation held at New Trier High School in the Chicago area. Ava Levin ‘24 and Paranjay Sharma ‘24 cleared to the double octafinal round, nearly managing to secure their first bid. It takes two bids for a team to qualify to the T.O.C.
One of the best parts about this year’s team, however, is “we have a really strong sense of community, which is good because we enjoy the people you’re hanging out and working with,” says Haddie Schedler ‘25.
“This team has the best balance between squad bonding, community, and competitive drive. Too much competitive drive can make debate teams a really toxic environment, so balance is important,” says Ms. Scott.
Mr. Cook believes, “the team is as well rounded as it’s been in a while. We have a big group of young debaters that can learn from upperclassmen to help on future teams.”
The team members and coaches have goals for this season as well. “I hope we can continue to have a supportive and positive environment, and that everyone can have a successful season even if it doesn’t mean winning a lot,” Schedler ‘25 says.
When asked about the competition, Tyler Bauman ‘25 says, “everyone. Every single person not on the team is my opp. I wish no harm on them, solely emotional distress in tournaments.”
“I hope students continue to build self advocacy skills and community support networks,” says Ms. Scott.
“My goals for the season are always based on helping the students achieve their individual goals, so we’re going to try and do what we can to get everyone happy with how the season goes,” says Mr. Cook.
As a community, we should make sure to tell our peers good luck when they head off to tournaments. They work really hard to do great at what they do, and deserve our recognition.
