NPDL NEWS
“As the summer came to a close on September 14th-15th, high school debaters gathered at Yale University to kick off the parliamentary debate season. Five preliminary rounds and a break to octofinals later, Westfield’s Patrick Henderson & Ryan Lafferty won the final round on a 2-1 decision over Friends Seminary’s Kiran Singh and Gus Glasheen in the varsity division. As side government, supporting the resolution. . .”
On Sunday, March 8th, independent hybrid team Huntmann Amala Karri and Benjamin Lee swept the competition at Columbia University, winning the final round against Debate Camp Noah Szymanis & Tessa Davis. The judges voted 3-2 in favor of Huntmann, on the resolution "In the event of a zombie apocalypse, this house would institute a policy of destroying infected quarantined areas rather than trying to save the uninfected people inside.” Lee, who attends Horace Mann School and Karri. . .
Cleveland’s Talia Cordova and Susan McHarris took the championship at Jean Ward negating the resolution, “The USfg should create clearer legal definitions of protected and unprotected speech,” against Lakeridge’s Eva Augst and Claire Fennell. Fifty-seven parliamentary teams traveled to the Lewis and Clark College campus in Portland, Oregon for the Jean Ward Invitational Tournament over the weekend of January 19th, a significant increase from the thirty-four entries last year. This year teams from Oregon and California from twenty-four different schools made the trek up, whereas last year Oregon. . .
88 teams gathered at Nueva Upper School on January 13th to compete in the open and junior varsity divisions at the second annual Nueva Invitational. The tournament featured 5 preliminary rounds for the open division and the junior division, with breaks to hidden semifinals in the 5th preliminary round. The tournament allowed casual dress, a change from formal dress promoted at most tournaments. . .
Angelo Thomas and teammates Edward Rumbos & Alex Walburg. Affirming the resolution, “The USFG should take action for the death of Jamal Kashoggi,” Abarca & Thomas and Rumbos & Walburg won their semifinal rounds against Northwood’s Manav Manivannan & Ekas Chawla on a 3-0 decision and San Dieguito’s Veronica Vilicich & Tate Oien on a 2-1 decision, respectively. . .
The 9th annual Ridge Debates kicked off on Friday, December 7th, drawing high school parli-ers on the East Coast to the tournament for the first time by adding a parliamentary debate division. In the final round, Westfield’s Patrick Henderson & Ryan Lafferty defeated Regis’s Ralph Lamberti & Michael Mazzariello on a 2-1 decision, negating the resolution, “This house would give reparations to descendants of slaves.” This. . .
Over the weekend of November 10th, Westview’s Advaith Nair & Austin Wang closed out Silverton Fox Invitational with their teammates Ethan Hiser & Matthew Friar. In semifinals, both teams affirmed the resolution that “When in conflict, student's [sic] First Amendment rights may be limited to protect other students from abuse.” According to champion Advaith Nair, the resolution’s phrase. . .
On the rainy Saturday morning of November 3rd, high school debaters from all over the east coast gathered in a large auditorium to begin the third annual Vassar College Invitational. Five preliminary rounds and a break to quarterfinals later, Westfield’s Patrick Henderson & Benjamin Mione took the final round on a 5-0 decision over Westfield’s Meghana Kandarpa & Oliver Shulman in the varsity division. As side government, supporting. . .
The third annual Cal Parli Invitational, held the weekend of October 6th, distinguished itself from other recent parliamentary debate tournaments in several ways, including the existence of a junior varsity division, sweepstakes for each division, and a relatively greater number of fact/value resolutions. In novice, Washington High School took first, while Irvington took first in junior varsity, and Campolindo earned the title in varsity. In the latter, Campolindo. . .
Thirty-two open teams and eleven novice teams congregated at the University of Pacific for the Jon Schamber Invitational on October 26th through October 28th in Stockton, California. In the final round, El Cerrito’s Audrey Dowling & Maxime St-Jean defeated Archbishop Mitty’s Jon Telebrico & Mayank Killedar on a 2-1 decision, debating the resolution, “This House should take a knee. . .
The sixth annual Claremont Bargain Belt Invitational took place on October 13th. With thirty-two parliamentary teams competing in the open division and more teams competing this year than last, the Bargain Belt marked the second Southern California tournament of the season. Despite four preliminary rounds and a break to quarterfinals, Bargain Belt finished in a single day— an unusual event on the Southern California circuit. In a unanimous decision, Claremont’s Edward. . .
The final round of CSU Fullerton Invitational culminated in a midnight matchup between Bishop O’Dowd’s Alden O’Rafferty & Conner Whitehill and Northwood’s Estelle Lee & Manav Manivannan. Negating the resolution, “This house supports Korean unification”, Bishop O’Dowd prevailed over Northwood on a 3-0 decision. . .
On October 12th to 13th, the Polygon Invitational was held at Washington High School in Fremont, California. On a 3-0 decision in the final round, Campolindo’s Shannon Bonet & Sharon Yuan defeated Valley Christian’s Somu Amujala & Prasanna Jayaganesh while affirming the resolution, “The United States Federal Government should significantly increase its lethal military assistance for the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria. . .
Overlooking the rainy Oregon Coast, Marshfield High School in Coos Bay kicked off the Oregon debate season with the South Coast Invitational. This one day tournament took place on October 6th, welcoming thirteen open parli teams and seven novice teams, a slightly smaller turnout in comparison to last year. The invitational concluded in finals after three preliminary rounds, as is typical for smaller Oregon Invitationals. This one day schedule was convenient for teams, reducing the cost for those who had to travel to attend. . .
On the weekend of September 29th, Los Altos/Campolindo’s Ryan Lee & Sophie Stankus won the Stephen Stewart Invitational (SSI) on a 2-1 decision against Irvington’s Anushka Kulkarni & Ryan Lee, negating the resolution, “The United States Federal Government should remove denuclearization as a condition of diplomatic relations with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.” The final decision hinged on the question of whether status quo. . .
63 teams – grouped together to form a competitive open division – gathered in New Haven on September 15th to compete in the annual Yale Invitational’s parliamentary debate division. With competitors from Connecticut, New York, and California, as well as six teams from Canada, the tournament’s rounds were organized into two flights for the five preliminary rounds. Topics varied widely throughout the nine-hour day. . .
The Jack Howe Memorial Tournament took place from September 23rd - 24th at the California State University, Long Beach, marking the beginning of the Southern California debate season. Per usual, rounds for the parliamentary debate division of the tournament took place outside on the “grassy knoll”. In the final round, Ashland’s Hannah Doyle & Annika Larson affirmed against Archbishop Mitty’s Vedant Vamshidhar & Devin Makhni, debating. . .
The National Parliamentary Debate League’s Board is excited to announce the launch of high school parli’s new central website: parliamentarydebate.org! This website will host all things parli: news articles written by NPDL correspondents, office hour registration and organization. . .
