Two Marin Students Heading to State Debate Tournament

Two students from San Marin HS, Domi Janot and Disha Divakar, just qualified as a debate team for the state high school speech and debate tournament, which will be held in Culver City in May. The two students earned this honor by qualifying first in parliamentary debate at the Golden Gate Speech Association’s state qualifying tournament held March 1. The girls are both seniors and are co-Presidents of the San Marin Speech and Debate club. When not doing debate, Domi serves as the editor of the school newspaper and Disha is an intern for Marin County working on public health and substance abuse. The event they participated in is an extemporanous debate event — they are given a new current event topic each round and they have 20 minutes to prepare to debate. This form of debate relies on logic, reasoning, and evidence, and it requires students to be extremely well-versed in current events. San Marin is the only high school in Marin County that currently offers a competitive speech and debate program. The team competes in the Golden Gate Speech Association, which has about 40 member high schools throughout the Bay Area.