A delegation of Ashton students participated in the Harvard National Speech and Debate Tournament-Public Forum Debate Competition.
They prepared to debate on the topic: The United States federal government should ban single-use plastics. Our teams were registered as Junior Varsity, debating 6 rounds during the weekend. It was a very challenging experience, where only 12% of the participants pass to the quarter finals.
How this event becomes such an enriching experience regardless of the results:
Forensics (speech & debate) offers a unique and rewarding mix of academic and extracurricular opportunities that provide a wide range of benefits to students, whether they learn the basics and are occasional competitors or become experts in an event and compete in a tournament. No matter their level of involvement and commitment, there is a format of debate beneficial for every student. Students who participate in speech & debate learn a variety of skills that are directly transferable to a wide range of academic and real-world situations. For starters, all formats of speech & debate teach the vital skill of public speaking, useful to a student for the confidence to speak up to answer a question or in making a presentation in front of a class, or later in life as a professional who has a busy slate of meetings, press releases and pitches.
Debater students met every week for one hour or two hours. Sometimes our students find themselves being overwhelmed with school work and extracurricular activities (clubs, sports, etc.) To be part of the debate program requires discipline, debate is an extremely rigorous activity, demanding near-endless amounts of time and energy from its participants. Our debate coaches are Leyti De Los Santos, Alexia Pimentel, María José Brea, and Laura Vásquez.
“My Harvard experience was pretty good! I knew it would be a challenge yet my partner and I tried our best. It was interesting to see how different every judge is and how you have to adapt to their likings. Along with the learning I gained from the debate, I also appreciate the international friends I made throughout the debates.” -María Andrea Herrera
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