by Jackie Gong
North’s debate team competed at South’s Winter Invitational Tournament last weekend, sending four teams of two members each, according to senior Bill Shen, a captain with junior Edward Ding. Shen said the team has improved since their first tournament in September, with “some pretty tremendous growth in every member of the team.”
Ding and junior Ruthie Jia had a record of 3-1, Shen and junior Adam Rabinowitz went 3-1 as well, junior David Reiss-Mello and sophomore Jake Sims Speyer went 2-2, and sophomores Luna Zhang and Lucy Zheng went 1-3.
Roughly 80 different schools in the Massachusetts area attended the tournament, according to Shen.
Students discussed the topic on whether or not the United Nations should have the power to engage in offensive operations, according to Rabinowitz.
Shen said the team members “have learned new knowledge, sure, but they’ve also learned how to acknowledge nuance and think critically.”
Shen hopes to get eight teams to qualify for the state competition, and to send their best team to the National Speech & Debate Association National Tournament.
The team’s next tournament is at the Lexington Winter Invitational this weekend, with about 150 teams across the country attending.