Campolindo Debaters Deliberate Over Results at Nationals
Four members of Campolindo’s debate team qualified for nationals and competed over the weekend of April 1. The members consisted of two teams of two; juniors Abigail Chen and Kylie Wang and seniors Neha Ravikumar and Ava Spalding.
The preparation and work the team did all year was intense, but it paid off since four Campolindo debaters qualified. Chen said that in the days before the competition she felt “super excited because [they had] been working super hard all year to go to Nationals, but also a little bit nervous and scared because [they were] going up against the best teams in the entire nation.”
The competition is structured with “seven preliminary rounds and each round is about one and half hours,” said Chen. The debaters that qualify then move on to elimination rounds. Partners Ravikumar and Spalding got to Octo finals and placed seventh in prelims.
Partners Chen and Wang “did not do so well” at this competition, but they enjoyed the amount of “domestic policy…and value resolutions,” said Wang. The debaters have not been deterred from the program, however — Wang said she “[thinks] it’s very fun” and she’s definitely “going to debate next year.”
Despite some disappointing results, the debaters had an overall good feeling about the results of Nationals and the way they performed over the course of the school year. Spalding said “it was a good way to end debate” because “it was [her] last tournament.” Further, the debater was consistent throughout the season and did very well in competitions early on. At a certain point the duo ranked “third in the nation,” she said.
Along with the impressive achievement of their qualification for and participation in Nationals, Campolindo’s debate team also has very promising prospects for the future. Spalding said that she and Ravikumar “have been training who are going to take [her] and Neha’s place next year” and they are “very confident in their ability to continue to run the club.”
Your donation will support the student journalists of Campolindo High School's The Claw. Your contribution will allow us to produce more issues and cover our annual website hosting costs.