Last month, students from Saratoga High School’s speech and debate club joined over 7,000 high schoolers from across the nation at the annual National Speech and Debate Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa.
Saratoga sent its largest contingent in more than 15 years to the week-long competition, held during the centennial celebration of the National Speech and Debate Association.
But it would prove to be an historic edition for another reason entirely.
From June 15-20, eight competitors, led by coaches Jenny Cook and Steve Clemmons, traveled to high schools across Iowa to compete in various events.
Graduating seniors Ashish Goswami and Leonardo Jia, and rising seniors Anthony Luo and Jet Tsang placed eighth and 25th, respectively, in Public Forum debate, while rising junior Sanyukta Ravishankar reached elimination rounds in Extemporaneous Debate; these performances earned the school an award for Debate Schools of Excellence for the first time in school history.
Graduating seniors Timothy Leung and Kinnera Potluri reached semifinals and octafinals, respectively, in Humorous Interpretation, while rising junior Devika Nair reached elimination rounds in Storytelling.
I was fortunate enough to be one of the school’s representatives at this tournament, a journey which began months before we flew to Des Moines.
Qualifying for the National Tournament in debate meant placing in the top three at a local district tournament, which was held this March at Bellarmine College Preparatory—Goswami and Jia placed second, while my partner and I placed third.
(Anthony Luo / Los Gatan)
Over the next three months, we worked with teammates and friends across the country to prepare arguments and rebuttals for both sides of the tournament’s topic—whether the benefits of presidential executive orders outweigh the harm.
By early June, we had spent dozens of hours researching our American history, compiling decades’ worth of evidence and applying our knowledge in practice debates. A week after our senior teammates walked across the stage at their graduation, we met at Saratoga High one last time to finalize our preparation before departing for Iowa.
Arriving at Des Moines International Airport on the night of Saturday, June 14, we were met with thunderstorms and a constant flurry of rain, which persisted throughout the night.
We spent Sunday at the Iowa Events Center celebrating 100 years of the NSDA, with competition rounds starting on Monday at Jefferson High School.
With almost 300 teams spending more than 12 hours every day competing, the National Tournament was an amazing opportunity to meet passionate students from a myriad of backgrounds; we spent our time with teams from Minnesota, Florida and Texas, as well as with familiar faces from across California.
By Wednesday, the tournament had entered elimination rounds, with competition getting tighter and tighter every hour. While my partner and I were eliminated in the 10th round (placing 25th overall), we were able to cheer on our graduating seniors as they reached the quarterfinal round on Thursday.
(Anthony Luo / Los Gatan)
That same day, while our coach and one of my teammates watched the final round of Humorous Interpretation at the Iowa Events Center, a young man entered the stage area, taking off a backpack in front of the audience, which sent the audience scrambling. Some attendees interpreted this as a bomb or shooting threat.
The Perrin Institution, a think-tank at the University of Virginia, reported that the following stampede led to at least three hospitalizations, with others discussing their injuries on social media.
A 22-year-old named Jayden Roccaforte was later charged with possession of controlled substances and disorderly conduct. Police said they found marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms. Even the Hindustan Times, in India, reported on the case.
Ultimately, the tournament was able to continue, with additional security and bag checks, ending on Friday.
Since the incident, the Debate Hotline, a nonprofit expanding access to debate, began a change.org petition condemning the NSDA for attempting to hastily resume the competition and demanding the tournament improve security measures.
“For an organization that has long championed the voices of young America, (the NSDA’s) inability to hear the screams and anguish of students demonstrates a new level of negligence and shamelessness,” the petition, which has almost 1,000 signatures, reads.
For more than 6,000 students, including myself, this was our first experience at the National Speech and Debate Tournament. And while, on one hand, it cemented rising fears of mass violence across the nation, it simultaneously reminded us that rhetoric—from playful speeches to heated cross-examinations—remains a powerful vehicle for advocacy and change.
