BHS Debate Team Finds Success In Inaugural Season
BHS Debate Team Finds Success In Inaugural Season
This year is the first since the mid-1980s a Debate Team has existed at Berkley High School. Coach Scott Warrow approached BHS about starting the team when his daughter, Nina, asked about starting a debate team at Berkley. Scott had coached and taught debate for the last 30 years, most recently at Groves High School, where he was a teacher for 23 years. At the first meeting of the year, nearly 30 students attended and since then, the team has held practices two days a week.
Since that first meeting, 18 students have competed and participated in some way over the season, which runs from September-March. Tournaments are every other week. All of the BHS debate team members compete in the Novice (first year) division. Next year, these debaters will move up to JV or Varsity depending on their level of commitment. The team welcomes new debaters each year and even during the season.
Debaters compete in two-person teams and a round lasts between 1.5 and 2 hours. Coach Warrow shared, “There are usually between 3-5 debate rounds per tournament. Each team’s record is distinct except at the state tournament where records are combined between different debaters who can rotate in and out of rounds.” At the debates, teams with the top two records at each tournament make the final round to determine who is champion. Debates are judged by other coaches or college students from Wayne State, MSU, or because everything is on-line, from college debaters across the country.
The team has done very well this year in their inaugural season. They were welcomed to be part of the Detroit Urban Debate League (DUDL), which consists of various schools from Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and Washtenaw counties. Out of the five invitational league tournaments this school year, the BHS team finished 1st once and 2nd twice. The BHS students have also won a variety of individual speaking awards.
Because of the team’s success in the DUDL, they were invited to compete in the Michigan Interscholastic Forensics Association (MIFA) State Championship on December 11th and 12th, where one of the two combined teams (Zack Kirkwood, Iris Macaulay and Nina Warrow) took 2nd Place in the Novice Division.
The team has also been invited to compete in the national qualifying tournament on March 4th and 5th. The top two debate teams will earn the privilege to represent the state of Michigan at the National Tournament in April.
Congratulations to the debate team on all the awards they have accumulated this year! This year’s team includes: Aria Dwoskin, Ashley Morgan, Ava Cohen, Brionna Beeler, Iris Macaulay James Flanders, Ma’ayan Vanderhoek, Maddie Watts, Nina Warrow, Oliver Moss, Quin O’Shea, Sharmel Gibson, Zach Wagner, Zack Kirkwood
TEAM AWARDS
- Iris Macaulay/Maddie Watts, 1st Place
- Nina Warrow/Zack Kirkwood, 2nd Place
- Maddie Watts/Zach Wagner, 2nd Place and 5th place
- Ashley Morgan/Shakanah Harlan, 3rd Place
- Zach Kirkwood/Nina Warrow/Iris Macaulay, 2nd Place Novice State Championship
INDIVIDUAL SPEAKER AWARDS
- Aria Dworkin, 1st Place award
- Iris Macaulay, 2nd Place award
- Brionna Beeler, 3rd Place award
- Maddie Watts, 3rd, 4th, 9th Place awards
- Nina Warrow, Two 1st Place, One 5th Place Awards
- Zach Kirkwood, 4th Place award
- Zach Wagner, 6th Place award
