The Black and White

by August Pittman

These past two months, the Debate Club has excelled in competition. From several top ten individual placements, to excellent performances from teams of two, Pilgrim High School is becoming a standout in the Rhode Island Forensics League.

At debates, students compete in pairs. These pairs come up with a case in advance, work together at practice debates, and work in harmony during tournaments. Cases prepared beforehand are done painstakingly, coming up with a compelling case from a vague statement such as a song lyric or movie quote (try to think of a debatable topic from “time to buy myself flowers”).

After this preparation, they engage in a three round competition. The first and second rounds they debate their prepared case and oppose another team’s one time each. The third round is where it gets tricky. To prepare novice teams, like Pilgrim, for varsity (where students make up cases thirty minutes before the first debate), they give two new vague statements for teams to make a debate off of.  After preparing a case, there is a coin flip to determine whether they’ll propose or oppose the case.

This time around, on January 11,  was excellent. Despite unexpected challenges (snowy roads, a parking nightmare, and weather delays), the Debate Club performed well. Emma Deus placed fifth, Katelyn Healey placed sixth, and Taylor Mark placed tenth individually out of over one hundred novice speakers. Healey and Mark also performed well as a team, placing tenth. 

Last time, the debate went well too. Tiffany Blanco was second, August Pittman was fifth, Kelvin Olea was eighteenth, and Taylor Mark was nineteenth. Two teams also were recognized: Lia Wasilewski & Tiffany Blanco placed thirteenth and August Pittman & Kyra Nava placed fourteenth 

Teams that placed in these two debates, and the one in November, will be eligible for States. This is a tournament in March only qualifying debaters may attend.

Of course, not only those who won awards are worthy of commendation. These debaters got in front of four other people with some notes, and made an argument out of it using critical thinking. They came up with ideas while listening to the opposing team at the same time.

And last, but not least, the club is so very grateful for Ms. Bizragane for all her hard work and dedication. It’s a lot of time investment, especially as a first year time needing more coach support. 

So, congratulations to all involved and best of luck in your next competitions.