First Debate Team Debating All The Way To First Place

There's no arguing it: the Harrison High School Debate Team, currently in its first season, is fast on its way to becoming a top competitor in the debate tournament circuit.

Coach Chaten Hertiz, now in his second year at Harrison, is already seeing results borne of the rigorous practice sessions.

"What I love about Debate is the way it allows team members, both new and seasoned, to recognize skills they might not have realized they have," says Hertiz proudly, "We've been very successful this year, so far. The hard work seems to be paying off; we have weekly, two-hour long practices, in addition to the daily individual meetings."

Hertiz, formerly from Massachusetts, has been coaching since 1998.

"I love being able to tell when a student just gets hooked right away on debating, the tournaments, and the whole experience: it can be very empowering."

The Huskies partake in the Lincoln-Douglas style, which means a one-on-one debate, with rounds lasting 45 minutes. The team members research and work with the same topic for two months preceding a competition.

The current topic on the table deals with economic sanctions, and whether they should be used to achieve foreign policy objectives.

"We're preparing our cases right now for our next tournament," said Robby Tiburzi, a sophomore. "We've been doing research since Christmas break."

After placing eighth in the previous competition, Tiburzi said he is already looking forward to the next debate.

"I feel like its such a unique experience," he said. "For me personally, the best part of being on the team is when I get to see my ideas pay off, when the judges respond well to my case."

"The debate topics are controversial moral questions," explained Hertiz, "So there's a lot of preparation involved. Team members are required to take both sides, affirmative and negative, and they must be prepared with rebuttals as well as their pre-written cases."

These cases the team prepares are written in the style of a research essay, and although there's no academic grade involved, the payoff is considered on par with the classroom.

"It's a great way to get students involved in research outside of the realm of homework and regular studies," Hertiz said. "I've found that debating challenges kids in a way that helps them later on in regards to life decisions, such as time management and public speaking."

As many tournaments are held on such campuses as Princeton, Harvard, and Columbia, the team members are given the opportunity to get immersed in academia on all levels.

Universities such as Princeton have debate societies of their own, and often play host to high school debate team competitions. Many times, debate team members of the host university will judge the tournaments.

With the season ending in April, Hertiz and his team are working overtime.  

"We compete twice a month. I select tournaments for us to participate in based on what the team is best prepared for," says Hertiz. "Its certainly a time-consuming activity. These kids spend an untold amount of hours and weekends practicing and working on their cases."

The official season may end in April, but that doesn't mean the debate is over: the post-season can run until the end of the school year. If the team qualifies for the national championships, they may be competing into May and June.

For now, the tournament schedule sees the Huskies competing at the Arthur L. Johnson School in Clark, New Jersey this weekend.

Later on this month, the team will be competing at Columbia University, followed by a junior varsity level debate at Harvard University. Right now, with such a young group, the team competes at the novice level. This seems likely to change soon: the team won their second tournament in November, and out of the 10 members, at least 3 take top places in every competition.

"We're hoping to expand next year," says Hertiz, "right now we have a solid team of 10 students: seven sophomores and three freshmen. Next year, I think this group will go on to compete at the Varsity level. They're all exceeding expectations, and not just mine. These kids are learning what they're capable of, and that to me is truly impressive."

The Harrison High School Debate Team includes the following students, who are already earning top records:

--Ally Brabant, who recently reached Octofinals, or the top sixteen, at Princeton. She won Monticello's Metro Hudson League tournament, and placed second at the Bronx High School of Science's Metro Hudson League tournament.

 --Ashley Muller placed 15th at the Bronx High School of Science, and 10th place at Monticello. 

--Angela Troia reached the elimination rounds, or the top thirty-two, at Princeton, and placed 5th at Monticello.

--Cayla Pettinato placed 18th at the Bronx tournament and 3rd at Monticello.

--Christina Loguidice reached the elimination rounds, or top thirty-two at Princeton.

 --Richard Haddad placed 4th at the Regis tournament, and placed 13th at Monticello.

 --Robby Tiburzi placed 8th at Regis, and 11th at Monticello.

The three new freshmen to join the Huskies are:

--Lauren Jacobowitz

--Rachel Kalichman

--Peri Mendelsohn