Outstanding Oratory Nets Octet Of Trophies

By Laurie Borst

The Newtown High School Debate Team brought home eight trophies from the Connecticut Debate Association (CDA) State Finals Tournament that was held Saturday, March 24, at Stamford High School. Competition included 34 teams in the Varsity level and 33 teams in Junior Varsity for a total of 134 debaters who qualified to participate.

The teams were from 21 public and private Connecticut high schools. To qualify, a debater must have won a team or speaker award at an earlier season tournament, or have an undefeated record in earlier tournaments.

CDA tournaments have taken place monthly since the start of the school year at different high schools in Connecticut. The NHS Debate Team attended tournaments earlier in the year at Ridgefield, Darien, and Pomperaug High Schools, where five of their members qualified to compete in the State Finals.

Those five students were Christine D’Alessandro, Walter Murphy, Gavin Newton-Tanzer, Akshay Agashe, and Nico Bonvini. Unfortunately, Nico was unable to attend.

Students were assigned to one side of a case that read as follows:

Affirmative: The United States Government should give slavery reparations to its African American citizens.

Negative: The United States Government should not give slavery reparations to its African American citizens.

Newtown High School won eight trophies for their efforts. At the Junior Varsity level, Christine D’Alessandro and Walter Murphy each earned a personal trophy plus the team trophy for First Place Team. Walter Murphy won a personal trophy for Second Place in the JV Speaker category.

Team Captain Gavin Newton-Tanzer earned a First Place personal trophy and a First Place team trophy for First Place Speaker in the Varsity level. Gavin and Akshay Agashe each earned a personal trophy for Second Place Team at the Varsity level.

Both the Varsity and Junior Varsity Teams went 3-0 in their rounds. The Varsity team then competed in a final round that included the top two teams to determine the winner of the Varsity Division. This final round was Newtown High School (seeded #1) against Hamden High School (seeded #2). The final round was very close with a 3-2 decision in favor of Hamden from the five judges.

The NHS Debate Team was formed last year and is only in their second year of operation. Their coach is Larry Saladin, a history and government teacher at NHS. For more information on the team and the types of debate in which they participate, visit its website at nhsdebate.com.