Successful Performances at Debate Tournament

On December 3rd, members of Worcester Academy’s debate team traveled to Cambridge, MA to compete in their second tournament of the year. Four members of the team were present at the tournament, which took place at Buckingham Browne & Nichols, an independent school. The Worcester Academy team delivered an outstanding performance. Notably, Ava DeAngelis ’21 placed 2nd out of 64 students in the novice division.

The coach of the debate team, history teacher Kate Schlesinger, brought one team to the tournament: Ava DeAngelis ‘21, Ayesha Shaikh ‘20, Rohan Krishnan ‘20, and Andrew Athanas ‘18. Once at the tournament, DeAngelis and Shaikh debated together and Krishnan and Athanas debated together. Isha Mayor ‘18 was also present at the competition, acting as a judge of novice level debates.

The tournament was divided into three approximately one-hour rounds where two pairs debated a topic. The topics of the day were to debate whether gender pronouns should be banned, whether  adolescents should be allowed smartphones, and whether  disclosure agreements about sexual harassment should be allowed in general.

Ava DeAngelis, a freshman from Shrewsbury, placed 2nd out of the 64 students in the novice division. This is DeAngelis’ second year of being on a debate-type group. Each round the judge assess each competitor based on the strength of their arguments, organization, and delivery. Two out of three rounds, Rohan Krishnan ranked first out of the four people participating in those debates. All three of her rounds, Ayesha Shaikh was ranked second.

Worcester Academy is expecting to compete at three to four more competitions this year. Their next competition will be January 21st at Choate Rosemary Hall.