Regular Season Ends with Most Competitive Tournament of the Year
The Newark Debate Academy held its final regular season tournament for the 2020-2021 season this weekend. With the judging pool stacked with multiple high school and collegiate champions from all over the country, the pressure was on the debaters to make a show out of their debates and they certainly did not disappoint.
In the beginner division, 40 teams competed and the cream rose to the top. The tournament concluded with the team of Julie Guimaraes & Samantha Lino from Wilson Avenue School claiming the championship in the Beginner division after winning every debate and securing a perfect record. Julie Guimaraes also won the top individual speaker award in the division obtaining a perfect individual score in every debate except one and missing out on a perfect total individual score by only one point.
In the Experienced division, the team of Ashley Lourenco & Sumayah Orphelia from Science Park Middle School took home top honors finishing as the Experienced Champions after winning every debate in the preliminaries. Ashley Lourenco took the top individual speaker award finishing with 2 perfect individual scores and missing out on a perfect total individual score by only half a point.
This tournament was an indication of the enormous potential our city has to offer in competitive debate and that is worth taking notice of. This season is arguably one of the toughest the city has ever had dealing with a transition fully to online debating in the midst of the global pandemic but the students displayed remarkable resilience to reach the finish line. As Executive Director Carlos Astacio noted during the awards ceremony, “We were impressed with the ideas and the INTENSITY the kids brought to their rounds.”
