Although it wasn’t all wins like meet 1, the debate team did have many wins, in rounds 3 and 4 (the second meet on 1/3) and rounds 4 and 5 (the third meet on 1/10).  If you are unfamiliar with the structure and rules of debate meets, please refer to the meet 1 article. 

Varsity A Affirmatives Jillian Cabral and Jillian Platt won rounds 3 and 5, but lost rounds 4 and 6.  Varsity A Negatives Ryan Silverman and Maxwell Cabana won rounds 3 and 5 by forfeit, won round 4, and lost round 6.  Novice A Affirmatives Jaden Cranshaw and Abigail Montag won rounds 3 and 4, won round 5 by forfeit, but lost round 6. 

I was able to interview Cranshaw. He told me he believes that his teams wins were due to the fact that, “[Cranshaw’s team] had a generally sound plan.”  He also pointed to the skills of his partner, Montag and feedback from judges.  Cranshaw also told me his loss in round 6 happened because, “The negative turned [Cranshaw’s team’s] plan in a certain direction causing it to unhinge.”  He said that his team will improve their plan in the future by making it more sound and providing more clarification.  Cranshaw told what he enjoyed most about debate team was its different take on debates.

Novice A Negatives Maya Newhook and Cassandra Pay lost round 3, 4, and 5 but emerged victorious in round 6.  I interviewed Pay on this turn around.  Pay told me her initial losses in meets 2 and 3 were caused by, “The Judges weren’t sure what points we made went with which stock issue, so they couldn’t tell if we won the categories or no.”  Pay also detailed me about her team’s win. “The plan we went up against was to take 12 billion dollars from the national defense and give the money to the Department of Education.  From there it would be distributed to schools to do what they pleased with, and the schools would hopefully attract students who didn’t want to go to school and help improve students’ grades to raise literacy rate.”  Pay and Newhook were able to win inherency and solvency.  Pay said that advice from the judges on connecting each point to a different stock issue is what helped her team win this debate.  Pay explains why she enjoys debate team. “I like that debate gives you a chance to argue in an organized manner because I enjoy arguing my point of view on a topic, and that’s exactly what debate is.”

Novice B Affirmatives Jacob Biello and Santiago Abrill won rounds 3 and 5 but lost rounds 4 and 6.

With only two more meets left, the SBRHS debate team has had a great first half of a season.