Last week’s trip report from a BDL tournament culminated in a description of the Varsity Finals, in which a brother and sister team from Roxbury narrowly lost the championship debate. I’m pleased to report that they’ve since had an even greater victory at the district championships and will be representing not just the Boston Debate League but the entire New England region at the National Forensics League (ie the real NFL) National Speech & Debate Tournament to be held this summer in Indianapolis (as far as I know it’s simply a coincidence that that other NFL
recently had some sort of important competition in the same city).
Dozens of the best two-person teams from throughout New England competed at the two-day district championship for one of two opportunities to debate at nationals. The other national qualifying team hails from the suburb of Weston, though the first alternates are also from the BDL.
Gena and her brother Ted (I don’t generally use kids’ real names when blogging about them but in this case their names and pictures are already in the news) are the first BDL debaters ever to qualify for nationals. It’s hard to think of a more deserving duo. Gena is one of very few students ever to compete in the BDL for all four years of her high school career, and she’s been winning top honors since her very first tournament, where she was the top speaker in the Novice division. Ted was attending BDL tournaments to cheer on his sister even before he was in high school, and their parents are fixtures at the competitions as well, always offering to help with the demanding task of distributing food to an army of ravenous teenagers.
These two have a ton of natural talent, a lot of support at home, and most importantly an insatiable work ethic. I have no doubt that they’ll make the BDL and the region proud in Indianapolis.
Great news article. Looks like bdl has had some huge growth within the schools.
Congrats on the fruition of ur hardwork.
Andrew,
Long time reader who just wanted to thank you for giving back to your community.
Although I wish that consensus building and conflict resolution were elevated above debate/argumentation . . . I’m a realist, and I know that the skills that these young people are learning will help them scholastically and in their professional lives.
Thanks!
Thanks, John. That’s a fair point. You might be surprised, though, how much those skills do make their way into debate. I tried to emphasize in the trip report the extent to which these kids really get along well and care about each other, no matter how intense things get during the debate. I can’t claim that that’s intrinsic to the activity, but because our league is run by people who are educators first and debate coaches second, I think we’ve cultivated a very good atmosphere where debate skills are used ultimately in the service of friendship and cooperation.