King’s Debate Society Competes in National Championship, Welcomes New Executive Team

This April, the King’s Debate Society concluded the 2016-2017 season with two final tournaments and student leadership elections.

The penultimate tournament took the Society to Hamilton, New York to compete at the Colgate Open Tournament, a tournament where anyone, including coaches and grad students, are eligible to compete. Kat Samelson (’20) and Lydia Dellere (’19), Maggie Ford (’20) and Kaitlyn Hasegawa (’19), and Trivette Knowles (’18) and Caroline Walker (’19) were the three teams representing King’s. The Society also brought along Koby Jackson (‘20) and Jon Stephens (‘20) to judge at this tournament. The intense competition brought The King’s Debate Society closer. In the final results, novice Caroline Walker tied for Top 10 Novice Speaker and KDS coach Josiah Peterson was asked to judge in the open quarterfinals.

The final tournament of the season was the U.S. Universities Debate Championship hosted in Denver, Colorado over Easter weekend. This tournament brought together all of the top British Parliamentary Debate programs from around the country, including three teams from King’s. During eight preliminary rounds teams debated motions ranging from the motives of body modification, to the attempted coup against Turkish president Erdogan, to whether the government should try to reduce inequality or merely reduce extreme poverty.

Jackson Kane (’20), Annabelle Ford (’20), and Haley Davidson (’20) attended the championship as novice speakers, attesting to their commitment and interest in sharing ideas. Three members of the 2016-17 King’s Debate Society executive team also attended: Onassis Puente (’19), Trivette Knowles, and Audrey Cooper (’18). Cooper and Knowles led the competition (placing first or second out of four) during the first six of eight preliminary rounds, as they faced teams from Harvard, Yale, Duke, and Columbia. They ended up narrowly missing the break after the final two prelims, still finishing in the top quarter of participants. Each team from King’s surpassed the expected win/loss record for their experience level.  Peterson was invited to judge the quarterfinal round on whether or not movements should use shame as a tactic against members who do not uphold ideological purity.

Knowles said, “Traveling to another state with the team is always such a great bonding experience, and we learn so much from our debate rounds and discussions together. The tournament was twice as long as most of the competitions that we attend, and the hard work that it required made it even more rewarding. On the second day, we were debating until midnight! I am so proud of all our debaters at the tournament, especially the first-year members of the team who enthusiastically jumped in the deep end. They definitely held their own, and I can’t wait to see where next year takes them.”

This year, The King’s Debate Society sent 32 students to 12 tournaments in three countries. The average student participated in a little over three tournaments during the year.

The last event of the season, The King’s Debate Society elections allowed the 2016-2017 executive team to pass down their positions to the incoming team: Trivette Knowles, President; Katie Caswell (’20), Vice President; Aaron Cho (‘20), Treasurer; and Koby Jackson (’20), Research Coordinator.

Onassis Puente, the outgoing Research Coordinator, said, “I see a bright future for the debate Society. This new team has a lot of potential that I was able to see grow throughout the whole year. I am excited what this group of students can do.”

Several past and current members of the King’s Debate Society graduated on May 6, including Jonah Ortiz (Senior Speaker), Kyle Trivanovich (winner of the Student Service Award and the Joe T. Ford award), and Christian Tegge, all former members of the King’s Debate executive team.

The King’s Debate Society exists to train students to advocate truth in the marketplace of ideas.