Valley Regional High School Students Up For Debate

ESSEX, CHESTER, DEEP RIVER, CT — Despite massive mayhem brought on by COVID, three sophomore Valley Regional High School girls have remained dedicated to debate. Their perseverance has paid off and they have been selected as one of only two debate teams from Connecticut to advance in the International Public Policy Forum (IPPF) debate competition, the first and only competition that gives worldwide high school students the opportunity to engage in written and oral debates on the issue of public policy.

Regan Doyon, Julia Donahue and Anna Benson are now one of only 64 debate teams, from around the world, chosen to be part of this elite competition. That’s quite an accomplishment for these young girls, who are also juggling school, COVID stresses, and an upset to their sophomore year of high school that no one could have imagine.

"Honestly, it's been really fun being part of this competition," said Doyon, who equates debate to organized arguing. "Although there is a lot of writing involved and it takes a lot of thought and hard work, it's not stressful, it's fun and exciting. I think the hardest part is bringing three different writing styles together and then having to put them all together, to make them flow in one essay.”

Unlike traditional debate, this competition involves the girls writing debate essays, in various lengths, that are sent to another team, which reads the essays and argues back to them in a written essay response.

“It’s interesting to see how they react to our essays and how they twist what we said,” said Doyan. “We don’t get to argue back immediately, which gives us more time to think about our response, but sometimes I wish we could get right back to them immediately with what we want to say.”

The teams are given a specific word count for their arguments, as well as a deadline. They work together collaboratively, to come up with a cohesive, well-written essay and respond via e-mail. The essays are then read and judged.

“I think that all three of us are very good writers and this competition has given us a good opportunity to show our skills,” said Benson. “It was difficult at first, but now that we have gotten more comfortable, it has gotten easier and we are very close as a team.”

Writing debate, versus the traditional public speaking debate is one aspect of this competition that Donahue said was particularly attractive to her.

"I'm more of a shy person and the opportunity to be able to write for this debate competition instead of arguing it in person is something that I really like," said Donahue, who has found it enlightening to see other’s opinions and writing styles. "It's been really interesting and fun, to collaborate with others as a team, on an international platform. I have learned so much."

The debate essay competition is sponsored by the Brewer Foundation and New York University. This year’s topic analyzes the benefits versus the harms of artificial intelligence. The VRHS girls are currently competing against John’s Creek High School in Georgia. So far, they have written three collaborative essays in response to the Georgia team. Their final essay was submitted last week and they will find out on January 4th if they won this round and will move onto the next level. If they win, they will be competing with the top 32 international teams. From there, the competition intensifies and is whittled down to the top 16, then eight and then down to just two teams.

“The further along in the competition we get, the harder it will be because we will be competing against even harder teams,” said Doyon. “Hopefully we make it through to the next level and we can continue doing well.”

All three girls agree that debate is challenging, but also very interesting and exciting. They encourage their peers to give it a try and find out what it's all about.

“Sometimes I don’t think debate gets the credit it deserves. It’s actually really fun and you get to learn about subjects that you may not otherwise be studying,” said Doyon.

Agreeing, Benson said, "Debate can be nerve-racking at times, but you won't know if you like it if you don't give it a try."

"Being part of this debate competition has been a very valuable learning experience,” said Donahue. “I've learned so much more about our subject of AI and the work has been challenging and engaging. I would encourage others to try debate because it's fun to get the chance to collaborate with others and be part of a team, and you get a lot of experience writing and looking at a subject from a different perspective."