On March 2nd, 2024, South Windsor’s debate team attended their very first Connecticut Debate Association tournament (CDA). The atmosphere was charged with excitement as the team embraced different challenges.
This was the last CDA tournament of the 2023-2024 school year. It hosted over 300 debaters, making it the largest tournament since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tournament’s topic focused on a sensitive topic: immigration. The motion that the debaters argued was “This House would require asylum applicants to be approved for entry into the US.” This is a very complex topic, and the debaters were only given an hour to prepare their cases for arguing both sides.
Complex topics like these in debate give debaters a way to challenge themselves in their public speaking and the ability to improv speeches. Just because the motion may be complicated, it doesn’t take away from the elated and thrilling experience debaters have.
Srivastava believes that debate is an opportunity for students to learn and adapt, rather than stress.
“I used to be a really shy person, and debate is what brought me out of my shell,” explained junior president of the Debate Club, Bhaavni Krishna.
Krishna’s journey is one from reticent to confident, which is attributed to her involvement in debate, thus serving as a narrative for other debaters.
Over 100 teams debated in this tournament as novice, and South Windsor High School’s team comprised of sophomore Samarth Basanth and junior Guru Seenivasan took home 5th place for the novice award. This was a historical victory in the South Windsor community.
