Moorestown High School Debate Team Pursues League Title, Historic Record

The Moorestown High School varsity policy debate team is undefeated and pursuing history.

Moorestown (14-0) will compete for the South Jersey Debate League championship on Feb. 25 at Eastern Regional High School. It is the first time since 2004 that the five-time league champions will compete for the crown.

However, before that, Moorestown heads into next Wednesday’s meet with a shot at a 16-0 record when it hosts Woodbury and Eastern. No team in league history has ever attained that mark.

The varsity team consists of seniors Olivia Bewley, Ryan Graham, Brian Sever, and Rahul Wadhwa. Sophomore Laura Sussman has twice filled in as a substitute to maintain the perfect record, coach Patrick Mooney said.

Bewley is pursuing the title of Best Overall Speaker in the league. She’s finished first in every debate in which she’s competed.

The debate format used for the South Jersey Debate League features partners arguing either Affirmative (pro) or Negative (con) on a resolution.

The resolution for this season is: Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its non-military exploration and/or development of the Earth’s oceans.

“The Affirmative teams create specific plans to be carried out by the government that support this resolution, while the Negative teams build up a cache of research surrounding the topic so that they are armed with a litany of attacks for whatever the Affirmative may throw at them,” Murray said. “So week to week they might be arguing aquaculture, environmental cleanup, off-shore oil drilling, or anything else that happens at sea.”

The junior varsity team is also pursuing a championship this season. It’s captured the last two titles, and will compete for a third consecutive championship on Feb. 25 at Eastern.

The attached image was provided by Moorestown Debate team coach Patrick Murray