Scarsdale Debaters Are State Champions

It's 7:15 am on Saturday, April 9. 55 anxious Scarsdale High School students pile onto a bus headed for Hofstra University. Some are singing, some are mumbling to themselves, and some are dead quiet, staring out the window. Towards the end of the bus ride a freshman confesses to one of the seniors that she is really nervous. "It's good that you're nervous," he assures her. "It means you care."

This past weekend was the New York State Championship for the Scarsdale High School Speech and Debate Team. Students work tirelessly throughout the year in the hopes of qualifying for the State tournament. This year, Scarsdale saw one of its most successful State Championships in history. The debate team took third place overall. The Lincoln-Douglas Resolution for the tournament was, "Resolved: The United States ought to promote democracy in the Middle East." In Novice Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Will Mussoff '19 and Sanjana Bhatnagar '19 both reached the octofinal round (top 16), and in Intermediate Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Natalie Isak '18 reached the semifinal round (top 4). In Varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Scarsdale dominated the field, with Zack Gelles '17 reaching the octofinal round, Gillian Zipursky '17 reaching the quarterfinal round (top 8), Lauren Singer '17 reaching the semifinal round, and Zoe Ewing '17 winning the tournament, becoming the New York State champion in Varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debate.

The speech team on the other hand had its most successful State tournament of all time. For the first time, the speech team won first place overall at the tournament. The team's coach, Joseph Vaughan, said, "After seeing how the category blocks were split up, I was confident that we could win going into the tournament." In JV Prose/Poetry, Lindsay Gelles '19, Kate Levin '19, and Ethan Underweiser '19 reached the quarterfinal round (top 24), Paige Barlow '19 reached the semifinal round (top 12), and Natalie Rosier '18 placed 2nd, missing first place by a very narrow margin. In Original Oratory, Alexander Maddon '17 reached the quarterfinal round.

In Declamation, Natalie Rosier was declared the New York State champion. She is the first Scarsdale High School student to win the State Championship in this event. In Varsity Prose/Poetry, Justin Cooper '16 reached the quarterfinal round, Zach Kapner '17 reached the semifinal round, and Daniel Altabet '16 reached the final round, ultimately placing 5th.

In JV Extemporaneous Speaking, Scarsdale had an amazing showing. Clara Enders '17 reached the quarterfinal round and Niharika Desiraju '19, Ishwar Mukherjee '19, and Dermot Kantor '18 reached the semifinal round. Scarsdale had two finalists in JV Extemporaneous Speaking, and they finished top two overall, with Arjun Ravi '18 placing 2nd and Zoe Landless '18 capturing the title of state champion. This is the third year in a row that Scarsdale has won the JV Extemporaneous Speaking title, with Zach Kapner winning it in 2015 and Justin Cooper winning it in 2014. When asked why Scarsdale is so successful in JV Extemporaneous Speaking, Vaughan said, "We focus heavily on structure while other teams focus more on the news and current events side of Extemp." In other words, while other teams solely work towards building a knowledge base, Scarsdale also focuses on knowing how to apply that knowledge.

In Varsity Extemporaneous Speaking Keshav Rastogi '17 reached the semifinal round. Scarsdale also had two finalists in this event: Zach Kapner and Justin Cooper. Kapner ultimately placed 6th and Cooper placed 1st, becoming the New York State champion in Varsity Extemporaneous Speaking. His question in the final round was: "Is Brazil doing enough to contain the Zika Virus?" He is the first Scarsdale High School student to win this event since 2003.

Even though the State tournament marks the end of the season for most competitors, several Scarsdale High School students are still going. At the end of April, Zack Gelles, Gillian Zipursky, Zoe Ewing, and Samara Jacobson '16 will compete at the Tournament of Champions at the University of Kentucky in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Additionally, for the first time, several of Scarsdale's speech students have qualified and are attending this tournament. Zach Kapner will be competing in Extemporaneous Speaking and Prose/Poetry, Daniel Altabet will be competing in Humorous Interpretation and Original Oratory, and Justin Cooper will be competing in Extemporaneous Speaking, Prose/Poetry, and Original Oratory. "I don't really know what to expect for how our speech students will do because the judge pool and the competitors are ones we don't normally face," said Vaughan. "I do feel confident that our debaters could clear to outrounds, however." Furthermore, Daniel Altabet will be attending the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions in May, competing in Original Oratory and Humorous Interpretation. He will be Scarsdale's first student to attend this tournament. Also in May, Zach Kapner and Justin Cooper will be attending the Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions at Northwestern University. Scarsdale is looking for a repeat performance from last year, as Cooper reached the final round in 2015.

To end the year, Scarsdale has two National Championships to look forward to. First, the Catholic Forensics League Grand National Tournament will be held over Memorial Day weekend in Sacramento. Scarsdale has qualified Natalie Rosier and Zoe Landless in Declamation, Zach Kapner, Keshav Rastogi, and Clara Enders in Extemporaneous Speaking, and Justin Cooper in Original Oratory. Then in June, Scarsdale will be flying down to Salt Lake City for the National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament. Scarsdale has qualified Keshav Rastogi and Arjun Ravi in International Extemporaneous Speaking, Zach Kapner and Zoe Landless in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, Justin Cooper and Daniel Altabet in Original Oratory, Ismail Ameen in Informative Speaking, and Caroline Kaufman in Dramatic Interpretation. "Our students don't take their talent for granted," Vaughan concluded. "They know how hard they have to work to achieve success at Nationals, and I am confident they will put in that work."

Guide to Debate Terminology:

Prose/Poetry - a 10 minute event where the speaker performs a selection of prose and a selection of poetry, alternating each round between prose and poetry.

Extemporaneous Speaking - a 7 minute event where the speaker has 30 minutes to write and memorize a speech that answers a question about domestic or international current events, without Internet access.

Original Oratory - a 10 minute event where the speaker writes a speech entirely in his or her own words on a topic that he or she is passionate about.

Declamation - a 10 minute event for Freshmen and Sophomores only where the speaker presents a famous speech from the past.

Junior Varsity - freshmen and sophomores only
Varsity - juniors and seniors