Debate Sweeps Tournament
Over the past couple of weeks, the Daniel Webster Debate Society (DWDS) has excelled at various competitions around New England. Upper Jack Zhang, a member of DWDS, qualified to compete in the World Individual Debate and Public Speaking Championships (WIDPSC) this April as a parliamentary-style.
Anjali Gupta expressed her excitement about the news, commending the entire debate team for their achievements. “I think our debate team this year is especially strong,” she said. “I think we have a good board and…they've done a good job in creating a curriculum that really helps both novice and advanced debaters learn and keep improving their skills.”
At the Loomis Chaffee debate tournament, Meili Gupta was the first student from Exeter to qualify for WIDPSC this year. However, this was not the only achievement of the team. Overall, Exeter’s team won the first place pair, the first place four-person team and the first place school award.
Exeter’s team also traveled to Choate Rosemary Hall on Jan. 20 for another tournament. With extensive preparation, upper Jack Zhang received the first place speaker award and also qualified for WIDPSC, making him the second student from Exeter to be eligible for the competition.
Several debaters will be attending the National Speech & Debate Tournament competition in June. Over the weekend, the list expanded as Anjali Gupta and Albert Chu passed four preliminary rounds and then qualified for Nationals at a competition in Brunswick, Maine. Zhang qualified as an official representative of the Daniel Webster Debate Society and competed in the parliamentary style while Meili Gupta and partners Anjali Gupta and Albert Chu debated in Oregon Cross-Examination style and public forum style respectively after participating in a term-long intensive debate seminar led by History Instructor and Daniel Webster Debate Society advisor Betty Luther-Hillman.
Before each competition, the team hosted an intensive preparation process for each debater to enhance their abilities. Every week, the debate team hosted practice debates where experienced debaters within the team could offer advice to one another. Anjali Gupta noted how these efforts were essential in her improvement. “[People typically] make sure [to] go to the practice debates with [their] partner and debating with other people who are going to the same competitions and are doing the same tournaments,” she said.
Senior Daniel Kang, who placed third individually at the Choate competition, commended the team for their hard work leading up to each competition. “I appreciate that the club makes time for each member to improve while recognizing their personal strengths and weaknesses,” Kang said.
The team typically practices and participates in parliamentary style debates, which was the format used at the Choate competition. The tournament in Brunswick focused on debaters building upon a case, which allowed for debaters to prepare for their specific topic in depth.
Those who went to Loomis instead participated in a cross-examination debate, which was a style unfamiliar to many of the competitors. “Because it was a new style, we practiced that a couple of times during the day in addition to weekly debate meetings,” Anjali Gupta said. During this competition, the topic that everyone debated was given to them only after registration, so pairs had a short time to prepare.
The recent successes have motivated the team to look forward to the competitions in the future. Anjali Gupta anticipates fostering her passion for debate. “The reason I kept coming back is just how much I've fallen in love with it. … The main thing that I love about debate is that rush that you get when you're in the middle of debating,” she said. “Debate has honestly just helped me in my everyday life in everything that I do that requires some form of public speaking.”