The weekends before and of spring break this year were home to two of the most important tournaments our debate team partakes in. The former was the Texas Forensic Associate State Championship where four teams qualified to debate in person for the first time in 2 years at Gregory Portland High School near Corpus Christi. The latter, the Woodward Academy 1st and 2nd Year policy tournament hosted one team in the Novice division (which I participated in) and 2 teams in the JV division.
Jesuit Debate entered 4 teams into the TFA state. Senior Aarin Jain and Junior Tejas Murugesh debated together. Juniors Dominic Chacko and Lawrence Jin debated as well. Sophomores Kyle Ma and Caden Cutchell, Benjamin Brainard and Jackson Farragut also participated. The JV Nationals also welcomed Kyle Ma and Caden Cutchell as well as sophomores Peter Loh and his partner Brandon Gibson. The Novice nationals had one team entered, freshmen Leo Ramirez and Luke Lastelick (me).
Three Jesuit teams cleared to the elimination rounds at the TFA State, keeping a streak of at least one team clearing at state since 1999. All 3 teams made it to the sweet 16 before being eliminated. Kyle Ma and Caden Cutchell placed fifth at the JV Nationals, while Luke Lastelick (me) and Leo Ramirez placed fifth in the novice division. The placings at the nationals are the best for Jesuit in over a decade.
What the students say:
Aarin Jain – “I thought TFA this year was amazing. It was the second year I got to fly in a plane during my time at Jesuit and it was definitely memorable. I got to see a bunch of people I normally would see as tiny boxes on a screen which was kind of cool because who thought they were actually real. The in-person aspect was also really interesting because it brought back memories from my freshmen/sophomore year when I would have to physically walk from room to room instead of just putting my headphones back on. After the tournament was over, we got to explore the city a little and built a cool sand castle at the beach. I would definitely go to state again because it was really that fun.”
Lawrence Jin – “I think everyone who attended displayed unprecedented work ethic and the results showed. Three out of the four teams that qualified cleared to the octo-finals, with Jesuit CJ winning a big elimination round against Plano East DP. I think it is the culmination of an entire season of hard work and everyone should be very proud of themselves. People who didn’t qualify like LR and GL still showed enormous dedication and helped out a lot.”
Peter Loh – “I was an attaché and I worked with intel gathering and research to help the kids who were competing. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it. It taught me a lot about research skills and it was super fun hanging out with the debate team face-to-face in a hotel room or debating. It was definitely a blast.”
Kyle Ma – “It was really fun to debate with all the other people and the in-person tournament was thrilling.”
Leo Ramirez- “The Novice Nationals was an interesting position to be in, we got to see different forms of debate and how different forms are interpreted. In the novice debates we saw different teams from all over the states and we also got to learn a lot about judges and how they form their opinions on debate.”
Brandon Gibson – “It was a great experience, especially going to the first in person tournament at TFA state and specifically JV nationals. It was great seeing a lot of teams on the east coast who we don’t normally see.”
Tejas Murugesh – “I thought TFA state was enjoyable. I had a lot of fun, it was nice to meet everyone, and it was a really great experience.”
Benjamin Brainard – “The TFAÂ was fun, yet also showed me where I could go, and what I needed to do. I view this tournament as a reality check for me, and I kind of needed it. I know what to improve on, and I know where to start, and I know that I can do it, so that’s what I’ve been focusing on now. The thing I like most about TFA wasn’t actually the tournament. I liked the bonding through working together, eating together, sharing a hotel room together, which made me closer to most of the debaters here. It was fun to learn more about Mr. Lingel, Dr. McFarland, and the alumni, The times when we ate at the warroom and just completely separated ourselves from our computers was some of the most fun I had.”
We interviewed Dr. McFarland to see what she thought about the historic placings:
General thoughts on both tournaments? –
“TFA was our first in-person tournament in two years. It was good that the debaters got to have that experience of travel and hotel stay – fun stuff like that. They were successful continuing a 23 year streak of having a team in the elimination rounds. The TFA works like most other tournaments in that you have some preliminary rounds and those that qualify are placed in a bracketed seeding system for the eliminations. Only a couple other teams had the success of 3 teams clear. This is our Senior Aarin Jain’s last tournament and also we had sophomores in the eliminations, so there’s a wide range of emotions.”
How did the debaters do with their first in person tournament? –
“Only half of the debaters with us have been to an in-person tournament as freshmen or sophomores before it was shut down. While debate has translated pretty well to online, it is a different experience to be in the same room as your judge. Most tournaments this season have been from school. There’s a physical element to being in person rather than online. In some cases we had to completely change building’s in between rounds. The debaters responded really well and much of our strategizing is very similar in person.”
How beneficial were alums in the process? – “Our alum are always beneficial. We had 3 different alum who went with us to TFA, Zach Watts ’17, Jack Moore ’19, and Bennett Harrison ’15. They were once where the debaters were so they can provide not only the strategic support but also the general support for what they know to be a big deal, the state tournament. All three of those people have helped either at other tournaments or a practice or both. We also had a couple of alum helping from far away.”
Comments on historic placings at JV/Novice Nationals? – “Normally its hosted in Atlanta at Woodward Academy. They are a great opportunity to have a culminating nationals for our younger debaters. This year both the JV and Novice divisions were very competitive. We had teams in the quarters of each divisions which means they took fifth place. That is the best we have done in both divisions in a VERY long time. One of the reasons that’s especially exciting is for Luke and Leo and also Kyle and Caden the success came from a lot of preparations and thinking about debate outside of debate practice, and in my mind that’s one of the most important recipes for success for a debater. Not just are they practicing when they are told to practice but are they thinking about debate and cultivating their skills outside of debate.”
