The St. Pius X Debate Team had a great end of their season, placing third overall at the state tournament in January. They debated whether or not to repeal section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which states that operators of internet services are not legally liable for the words of third parties who use their services. In other words, companies such as Facebook cannot be held liable for something posted on their platforms.
The St. Pius team consisted of senior captains Katie O’Mara and Aryana Wadhwani as well as seniors Sean Bradley and Eero Cheatam, sophomores Lulu Smith, Ashlyn Loving, and Sophia Darling, and freshman Adela Ntardzenyuy.
The same topic is assigned to all schools roughly two months in advance leading up to a competition. Other topics this year included whether the federal government should forgive student loans and if the U.S. government should send military troops to the Arctic. Students must be prepared to argue both sides of the topic, but even when they feel fully prepared, many things can go wrong.
“One of the most stressful situations is when you have to go maverick,” Smith said, which is when one person on a team of two has to debate alone against the other team.
For O’Mara “The first debate [of a tournament] can be stressful, but the other four after are kinda fun.”
Debate also provides opportunities for students to make friends with people from other schools.
“The debates are typically really heavily male-dominated, so it is hard to find someone [females] can connect with on an interpersonal level,” said sophomore Ashlyn Loving, who became fast friends with a girl from Midtown at a tournament last year.
“Now I’m really good friends with her, and I know her outside of debate as well as through another personal connection,” Loving said.
Loving added, “Debate has helped me grow as a person because it has helped me to understand things from both sides and to further understand the heart of a problem”
If you are interested in joining the Debate Team next year talk to Dr.Lauer or Mrs.Bieytes, or be on the lookout for information in August.
