Sunlit Success
Debate allows students to grow their communication, quick thinking, researching and writing skills. But most importantly, it helps them grow in one crucial area: teamwork. From Jan. 6 to Jan. 9, the Peninsula Speech and Debate team competed in the Arizona State Hugh Downs School of Human Communication Invitational, with senior Alex Borgas and junior Aaron Yi securing the win in the finals.
For the tournament, debaters had to analyze and take a position on whether the United States should reduce its military presence in West Asia and North Africa. Yi and Borgas competed in Lincoln-Douglas Debate (LD), which is a one-on-one debate event where the delegates take both an affirmative and negative stance, forcing them to see the issue from multiple angles. At the tournament, each delegate competed in six preliminary matches, after which the judges decided who moved onto the elimination rounds. Yi went undefeated and moved on to the qualifiers, while Borgas also qualified with a five-to-one record. Yi and Borgas became more confident the more they progressed. By the quarterfinal, Yi was matched up against Austin Loui, a fellow debater from the same team. The rules dictate that when two delegates from the same school go up against each other, the delegate with the higher speaker points advances over, or walks over, the other delegate. As a result, Yi automatically advanced, giving him additional motivation to win. In the end, both Yi and Borgas made it to the finals and became co-champions. Their success, according to Loui, stemmed from their ability to think on their feet.
“Yi is [skilled] at coming up with improvised warrants, thinking about arguments really quickly and ways to say them persuasively,” Loui said. “Borgas is the heart of the team. Everyone imagines him as the de facto captain, as he is the most logical thinker on [our] team. He comes up with the most efficient [ways] to [counter] an argument.”
Due to its relatively smaller size, the team’s spirit is high and the team members have strong connections with each other. The debaters enjoy doing activities together during tournaments such as going to restaurants or the hotel swimming pool. Additionally, the debaters treat their teammates’ victories as their own. Even though Yi and Borgas are the official champions of the tournament, everyone on the team shares the same feelings of success. Borgas feels that these close relationships between the debaters led to their triumph.
“It was a team effort,” Borgas said. “We all shared the win. We could not have done it without Loui helping Yi [automatically advance to finals]. Peninsula has a really good team spirit. Some debate teams are so huge [that] they do not bond, but here we bond, everyone is funny and [close].”
Through this experience, the team learned that this strong bond between each other is the source of their success. A lot of the preparation for the tournament was done with the whole team pitching in. The teamwork between the members makes processes like dividing up research much more efficient. The team also pooled their knowledge to help one another, by providing information about opponents they have faced before or with formulating arguments. Yi feels what makes the debate team an enjoyable community and competitive group is their friendships with one another.
“[Everyone] has a place in speech and debate,” Yi said. “If someone were to leave the team, people would be devastated because [every member] matters. I think the fact that [the team] is so close to one another helps us do better. In the elimination rounds when not everybody is still in the tournament bracket, we still want each other to win. Everyone wants [others’ successes] as much as their [own] and that is what makes being part of Peninsula debate really special.”
