Haonan Li ’13, who qualified for the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championship (WIDPSC), will forgo the opportunity to debate on an international stage. Instead, Matthew Lloyd-Thomas ’12, Co-President of Philomathean Society, will take his place and join 12 other debaters representing the United States.
Lloyd-Thomas will travel to Brisbane, Australia, from March 29 to April 4 during the first two weeks of Spring Term to compete against debaters from all over the world.
Both Li and Lloyd-Thomas attended the Loomis Chaffee Debate Tournament on January 15. The Loomis Chaffee tournament was one of nine Debating Association of New England Independent Schools (DANEIS) tournaments in which the winner would qualify for WIDPSC.
Li and Lloyd-Thomas tied for first place in the tournament. However, because of Li’s higher initial ranking, he received the invitation to the WIDPSC.
According to Li, he will not be debating at the WIDPSC because he does not want to miss two weeks of school and fall behind on his schoolwork.
Li said that the Dean of Studies Office contacted his parents to inform them of the academic consequences of attending the competition.
“I was already grappling with the issue [before the Dean of Studies Office contacted my parents]. I was struggling with whether or not I should go, because you’re missing two weeks of Upper Spring, which is going to hurt,” said Li.
According to Elizabeth Korn, Associate Dean of Studies, the Academy would have allowed Li to attend the WIDPSC had he chosen to go.
Li is not the first Andover student to forgo the chance to attend WIDPSC. Last year’s qualifier, Christa Choy ’12, also decided to remain on campus rather than travel to the competition.
Last year, Choy placed second in the Loomis-Chaffee Debate Tournament. The student who won the tournament last year had already qualified for WIDPSC, so Choy was also given the chance to compete. She withdrew from the competition, citing similar reasons to Li’s.
Cason Crane, a 2011 graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall and third place finisher at the Loomis Chaffee Debate Tournament in 2011, went in Choy’s place.
Choy said, “I think a lot of Uppers at Andover, we all have our priorities in our academics, and Worlds being the first week of Spring Term, especially with Upper Spring, […] it was really difficult for me to balance crew and school versus Worlds.”
“It would have been too hectic in the beginning of Upper Spring, and I didn’t want to start off in a really bad way, and I’m sure that’s part of the reason why Haonan [Li] might be staying,” continued Choy.
Lloyd-Thomas plans to prepare for WIDPSC through practice and learning about different types of debate techniques and setups.
Lloyd-Thomas said, “Practice makes perfect. Just practice.”
He added, “There are a couple events that I need to learn how to do. In Philomathean Society we focused almost purely on Parliamentary Extemporaneous debate, but at Worlds you also have to compete in after-dinner speaking, interpretative reading, which are very different from extemporaneous debate, so I’ll be focusing on that. I’ve never competed in those events, so a lot of what I’ll be doing from now and Spring Break will be learning those events.”
According to WIDPSC competition guidelines, Parliamentary Extemporaneous debating style involves two sides, which either support or oppose a statement The two positions are referred to as “Affirmative” and “Negative,” respectively. The teams are ranked first through fourth in a competitive round, with first receiving three points, second two points, third one point and fourth no points.
After-dinner speaking is a lengthy rehearsed speech given at an event that relates to that occasion. These speeches use humor to make a serious argument, according to the WIDPSC website.
The interpretive reading portion of the competition involves the recitation of a selected story, essay, speech, play or poem. The debater must communicate the meaning and emotion of the selection to his audience.
