The Bridgewater-Raritan High School Speech and Debate Team competed at Hunterdon Central Regional High School on January 6.
Despite the snowstorm that weekend, BRHS still secured fourth place among all the competing schools at the event held in Flemington.
Seventy-three BRHS students participated at the tournament, marking the highest number of entries of any debate tournament this year.
Due to the snowstorm, the tournament was adjusted and concluded at 2:30 p.m. instead of the usual 6 p.m. This modification resulted in three debate and speech rounds instead of the typical four, and there was no on-site award ceremony. Winners were announced via email sent to all participating schools.
In Varsity Congressional Debate, seniors Roshan Dave and Nikhita Raj both placed second, senior Prisha Bagul placed fourth and sophomore Anshita Jaiswal earned sixth. Congressional Debate is a political emulation where 12–22 high school debaters role play as senators and representatives, each sharing their stances on American bills and policies.
In Varsity Duo Interpretation, the junior duo of Sonika Sunkara and Guntas Brar placed sixth. Duo Interpretation is a speech event in which two high school students perform a 10-minute story or play focused on interactions and relationships in front of a panel of judges.
In Novice Lincoln-Douglas (LD), freshmen Arnav Dham and Harshit Kondle secured fourth and sixth place, respectively. In Junior Varsity LD, freshman Advika Prakash placed 3rd, while Sanvi Parikh placed fifth.. Finally, in Varsity LD, juniors Riya Shenvi placed 1st while Eleanor Zhou placed third. Lincoln-Douglas is a debate event in which high school students have a one-on-one philosophical debate, affirmative or negative, on a global topic. The LD topic for January–February 2024 was whether the United States should substantially reduce its military presence in the West Asia–North Africa region.
For Novice Public Forum (PF), freshmen duo Om Shah and Rithvik Krish placed third. For Junior Varsity PF, sophomore duos Ayushmaan Mukherjee and Saraansh Rawat placed third, while Anik Shah and Marko Gvozdenovic placed sixth. Finally, for Varsity PF, junior duo Abhay Shankar and Atharva Makode placed second. Public Forum is a debate event in which high school students have a two-on-two factual debate, affirmative or negative, on a global topic. The PF topic for January 2024 was whether the federal government should repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law barring social media platforms from liability of user content.
Freshman debater Rithvik Krish shared his experience preparing for the tournament.
“Om is a really fun partner, and prepping the day before and working together in our round makes it a really enjoyable experience. Breaking was an amazing experience that we wish we could have experienced on stage,” he said. “My family was very pleased with my experience and is hoping for more breaks in the future. Debating freshman year has been a really fun experience thanks to our great captains who guide us.”
Sophomore debater Marko Gvozdenovic also weighed in on his experience.
“It’s a bit sad that the tournament got cut short, but overall it was very fun. The campus was large and had a cool design, and debating this month’s resolution proved to be an exhilarating experience,” he said.
As of now, the winning debaters have not received their physical trophies and medals from the tournament. It is anticipated that the trophies will be shipped to BRHS and distributed by the club advisor.
Bridgewater-Raritan is gearing up for a series of upcoming tournaments in the next few months, with the next one scheduled at Ridge High School on January 27.
