Warwick Debate Team excels at state championships
Posted: May 1, 2024
Several members of Warwick High School's debate team placed at the VHSL Class 5 State Championships April 26-27 at James Madison University in Harrisonburg.
"This being my first year coaching debate, I had no clue how or even if we would place," said Giuliana Mortimer, Debate Team coach and English teacher at Warwick. Words truly cannot express how proud I am of the hard work and dedication these students have."
John Steiner, a junior, placed 1st in the Lincoln Douglas category. It is a one-on-one debate style and his topic was whether or not the primary objective of the criminal justice system should be rehabilitation. Lincoln Douglas is a moral debate and is named for the famous debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.
Razvan Verde, a junior, and Kai-Tang Tseng, a senior placed 3rd in the Public Forum category. It is a two-on-two team debate style and their topic was whether or not the United Nations Security Council should abolish permanent membership. Public Forum uses fact-based argumentation and tackles issues that are relevant to the public at large.
Warwick finished in second place and classified as runner-up in the team standings, which are determined by averaging competitors' placements to rank teams.
All students had to prepare both sides of the arguments, according to Mortimer.
"The process is a little different depending on the category, but this is basically because they do not know until each individual round which side they are debating," Mortimer said. "In addition to our typical tournament preparations, our team wanted to craft unique arguments that would be more difficult for their opponents to counter.
"Kai-Tang and Razvan focused on doing meticulous research, likely leading to them knowing more about the facts than many of their opponents. John honed in on the nuances of his topic, which, led to his success in attacking his opponents' argumentation."
