Debate Society Competes at Northeastern Universities Championships

The report from last weekend's competition in Philadelphia.

The King's Debate society in Philadelphia
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This past weekend, the King’s Debate Society competed in the Northeastern Universities Debate Championships. They traveled to the location of arguably the most important debates in American history: Philadelphia.

Held at Swarthmore University, this is King’s last tournament in the United States before the National Championships this April. King’s debaters faced off of against the top schools from the Northeastern region, including Yale, Vermont and Cornell, along with international teams like Cambridge. They debated topics ranging from whether or not churches should be held legally responsible for the outcomes of faith healings to whether or not free trade deals should be authorized by popular referendum.

King’s enjoyed another tournament of competitive success, with the team of Kyle Trivanovich (’17) and Christian Tegge (’17) coming in 18th place. Jonah Ortiz (’17) and Audrey Cooper (’18) walked away with speaker awards, with Ortiz receiving 10th place speaker, and Cooper receiving 3rd place novice speaker. Coach Josiah Peterson, and debaters Trivette Knowles (’19), Onassis Puente (’19), Will Malson (’16), and Abigail Poit (’16) were also in attendance.

On their return from the tournament, the debate society stopped off at Independence Hall, the first visit to the landmark for most of the debaters. Following that, the team ate dinner at Tony Luke’s, one of the most popular Philly cheesesteak joints in the whole city. The team was split over whether or not Phillys should be topped with provolone or whiz. Pennsylvania native Christian Tegge argued that an authentic Philly would have cheese whiz, but others disagreed.

debate-cheese

“It’s simple,” Jonah Ortiz explained, “cheese coming out of an aerosol spray can is just science going too far. Maybe it’s the 1/4 Italian in me, but I’ll go with provolone any day.”

The Debate Society will be traveling to Jamaica to the Pan-American Championships on Easter weekend, and will finish their season by competing at the National Championships this April.

 


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