February’s varsity debate tournament was held at NVOT for the second time this year, where JV debaters were timekeepers for the first.

        During debate tournaments, varsity debaters competed against schools, such as Leonia, Dumont, Cresskill, and Dwight Englewood, and discussed the economic and diplomatic engagements between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.

        At this particular debate, members of JV debate had the opportunity to serve as timekeepers and watch a varsity debate. Freshman and JV member, Yoohee Kim, initially joined debate for club credits. But after timekeeping for four varsity debates, Kim “learned that debate is not something that you should take [for] granted. Seeing the varsity members’ research and public speaking, Kim set a new goal for herself to “work hard on [her] JV debate” and “become a varsity debater and debate like the debaters [she] saw that day.”

        These varsity debaters won awards at the end of the day. Senior Seo Yoon Oh received the Best Judge Award. In addition, junior Maxwell Schenkel received 3rd place speaker. Senior Lana Davidoff received 2nd place speaker, and juniors Joel Stanley and Schenkel received 1st place team.

        Senior and president of varsity debate, Amelia Antzoulatos, said, “It was a pretty exciting debate. I think a lot of new things happened. A lot of people stepped out of their comfort zone for this debate, but we ended up doing really well.”