After spending seven days in Germany for the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships, Tiffany Li ’09 ranked 17th place overall out of roughly 200 students. In her four categories of the tournament — debate, impromptu speaking, persuasive speaking, and a choice of interpretive reading or ‘after dinner speaking,’ a more comedic option — Li placed second, 20th, 22th, and 25th, respectively. Cassius Clay ’09, who also attended the Worlds debate, ranked 50th place at the championships and received 42nd in debate and impromptu and 47th in interpretive reading. Clay was not able to recall his persuasive speaking score. Both Li and Clay won first place as individual speakers in their respective Debate Association of New England Independent Schools (DANEIS) world qualifying tournaments this winter, which made them eligible for the Worlds debate. The top ranked student from U.S.A. was Matt Constantino of Hotchkiss School, who ranked fifth overall and received first place in impromptu speaking. Seth Rosenburg, a Canadian student, was the overall first-place winner. Canadians also took second through fourth, sixth and seventh place. Americans took fifth, eighth and ninth. Cyprus received 10th. Although Worlds is based solely on individual speakers, Li said, “If they had ranked it by country, Canada definitely would have come first. They nearly always sweep . . . competitions like this.” Clay added, “It was clear that students from Canada had a lot of preparation, coaching techniques, and a list of prepared quotes, axioms or phrases that the judges liked to hear, to try and work in. For example . . . to fill in the blank space of ‘um’ with a ‘Ladies and Gentlemen.’” Li said, “The best part of the tournament was meeting debaters from other countries. I don’t bond with people in DANEIS as much, just 45 minutes of speaking and then you leave, but on this trip I really felt like I got to know some kids really well.” Phil Meyer ’08 and Ben Schley ’08, co-heads of the Philomathean Society, agreed that Andover does not pay enough attention to debate. Many other schools, like Hotchkiss, offer debate as a course and even bring coaches along to tournaments. However, both are optimistic as to how Clay and Li’s success at Worlds will affect the club. “Debate is an excellent educational tool,” Meyer said. “The way I feel about it, both did a great job. I’m really glad they went, it was a huge deal, and they both did very well—quite an achievement, getting there. Hopefully this will help to bring more success for the club as well, more popularity at Andover,” he continued. Schley agreed. He said that though “not many people will join at the beginning of Spring Term . . . certainly people will come next year, at the club rally.” Last year only one student from Andover, Jess White ’07, attended Worlds in 2007. Meyer said, “It shows that debate is something we do well here.” Clay said, “This is the first year we’ve sent two kids ever, it shows that Andover is serious about debate, and it is good for the students to see people can do well in it without a coach, even.” Meyer and Schley said that the “the skills [of debate] are applicable [in other areas]. [Philomathean Society] hones their skills.” Schley added, “Andover debate groups are focusing more on thinking on your feet. Andover kids are smart—they’re good at that.” The DANEIS league has also recently shown signs of tailoring more towards the style of Worlds debate. Currently, DANEIS tournaments only feature Parliamentary and Oregon debates, while Worlds focuses much more on public speaking. Meyer said, “Lately they’ve been adding disciplines, it’s the first time in the last couple of years that debate tournaments have been ‘world qualifying.’”
