Congratulations to the Westland Debate club!

On Saturday, May 10, two teams of three participated in the regional debate competition at Walker Mill Middle School. Going up against students from Sidwell, Nysmith, Rachel Carson, and Kenmoor, the Westland teams took nuanced positions for or against topics including whether Teach for America harms or helps public schools; whether juveniles who commit violent crimes should be charged as adults; and whether Israel should withdraw their settlements from the West Bank.

The Westland students used everything they have been working on in practice, thinking critically about all aspects of the issues, including the likely arguments and counterarguments for each one. They were readily able to refute points made by the opposing team, sometimes even taking their opponents’ arguments and turning them around to their advantage, and they argued every point with passion and conviction.

In the end, the Westland teams won 4 out of their 8 debates, winning a medal for their performance. One of the Westland students was even rated best speaker of the entire debate!

Congratulations to the Westland Middle School Debate Team and their coaches Edward Harding, Jamison Harrison and Veena Katikineni for a great finale to the year.