On Jan. 20, 2024, Schreiber hosted its yearly debate tournament sponsored by the Long Island Forensic Association. The Long Island Forensic Association (LIFA) is a non-profit organization that directs high school competitive speech events all across Long Island. Besides Schreiber, high schools like Jericho, Half Hollow Hills East, and Sayville, host tournaments that attract all levels and divisions of debaters from across Long Island. From these tournaments, highschoolers who “qualify,” individuals who rank in the top five, will gain a half-qualification to go to the New York State Championship, held by the New York State Forensic League (NYSFL). The championship has a larger pool of debaters with much more prestige, which makes qualifying at local tournaments, like the recent Schreiber tournament, extremely important.
The topic that debaters from the Public Forum division debated was whether or not the United States federal government should repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act which gives immunity to the platforms if harmful information is posted publicly. This topic could be seen as very obscure, especially in comparison to previous topics like the Dec. topic, whether or not the United States should cancel federal student loan debt. Overall, the tournament itself required an enormous amount of preparation and research so that members of the Schreiber Debate Team could earn a half qualification.
The tournament itself was scheduled from 8 a.m. -4 p.m. Hundreds of debaters from acrossLong Island attended the tournament. The debate rounds lasted between 45 minutes to an hour each, and Schreiber students competed in a Public-Forum. Public-Forum style is where four students compete against each other in groups of two. However, the tournament also hosted Lincoln-Douglas style where only two students competed directly against each other. All debate rounds were carefully observed by a judge who determined a winner by the end of the event. There were short intermissions between rounds for the debaters to have a break and discuss strategy and their next course of action while they attempted to identify what they did well and where they could improve upon.
During these intermissions, in order to raise money for the team, members of the Debate Team and one of its faculty advisors, Mr. Sepulvida, sold goods at a table in the cafeteria. Among some of the things sold were packs of gum, water bottles, cookies, chips, and candy, in hopes that they would make profit. Schools like Roslyn, Jericho, Cold Spring Harbor, Chaminade, along with many others, also purchased pies of pizza through the school from Gino’s Pizzeria on Main Street. By strategically pricing items, the Schreiber Debate Team was able to make profit to offset future tournaments that require long-distance travel, like the annual Princeton and Yale Invitationals.
Because there were so many debaters and judges who had never been to Schreiber, students from the debate team who weren’t competing in the tournament helped direct debaters and judges from other schools who were unfamiliar with the locations of the various classrooms throughout the building. Students from Mr. Sepulvida’s AP classes were also recruited to help direct judges and debaters. For the first-year freshman Novice Public Forum, Ayla Chernosky and Amy Loftus qualified for states as well as Christiana Kent and Chelsea Tapia Allen. Both teams earned places in the top-three, beating over 20 other teams from across Long Island. They were also undefeated, meaning that they won all four of their rounds.
On the other hand, in the JV Public Forum Debate section, two teams qualified, juniors Annie Li and Henry Gerstein and juniors Julian Kimball and Lucas Lardoux. Both teams beat over 16 other teams from across the district and won the majority of their rounds. All JV Public Forum division debaters won the majority of the rounds in this tournament, which beat the records of many other schools who debated at the tournament.
“Mr. Vinella and I are very proud of all the teams that participated because they have put in a great deal of hardwork and dedication to hone their craft,” said Mr. Sepulvida.
The tournament was a great success for its participants, not only because of the team’s performance at the tournament, but also the event led to a great deal of money raised for the club itself. This money can be used on many things, including sponsoring events as well as assisting less fortunate debaters who would otherwise not be able to afford to compete in away tournaments and other events.
“So far it has been a very successful season and the leadership of veteran debaters, Eunice Park, and Charlotte Packer deserve a great deal of credit for that success,” said Mr. Sepulvida.