After registering the largest group of members to date, IHS debate club sent a total of 31 teams to compete at Parli 1 on Oct. 9 at Lowell High School. Parli 1, one of the three Golden Gate Speech Association (GGSA) league tournaments, consisted of three debate rounds with topics ranging from abolishing the death penalty to the benefits and harms of the UN and NATO. Each debate team was given 20 minutes to prep a case on the spontaneous resolutions provided for each round and then participate in a 45 minute debate either affirming or negating the topic-a format that all the teams were well-versed in after attending multiple debate sessions after school. 13 of these teams won awards in both the novice and varsity divisions making Irvington the second most successful school at the tournament.

IHS debate club has seen a 68% increase in enrollment compared to last year in membership. This meant that the organization for practice sessions had to change so that novice members could easily transition as high school debaters. “We now have to make our lectures a lot more interactive as more people means less attentiveness from members,” said Debate president senior Rishabh Meswani. “There is a lot more work on the logistical side of things in pairing up for practice debates, and we’ve made a lot of changes to make a clear division in session structure for varsity and novice.”

New debaters enjoyed attending these newly structured sessions and their first tournament. “It’s intimidating to join in the very beginning of the year, and go to the first tournament; however, the sessions made me feel prepared ,” said freshman Emily Liu. “The tournament was great, because I was surrounded by people with the same passion to debate as me.”

IHS debate club will go on to participate at the next league tournament in early November and strive towards even better results.