Debate Season Kicks off with Back to Back Wins

 

WPGA debate teams started off the season with outstanding performances, winning back-to-back tournaments this week. The juniors successfully competed at the provincial qualifier tournament at Crofton House last weekend, advancing to the Canadian BP Championships. With 40 teams in attendance, it was a tough field to compete in, but at the end of two days of preliminary rounds, we were pleased to learn that four of our teams were in the semifinals.

In the grand finals, two WPGA teams faced teams from Crofton House and Burnaby North. Congratulations to Annushka Agarwal '22 and Rafeeq Kassam-Jiwani '22 for winning the grand finals. They were followed closely by teammates Cadence Gunther '22 and Chelsea Hu '23, who finished 2nd. Both teams will represent BC in the junior division of the Canadian BP Championships, joining Vivian Zhang '19 and Emily Hardy '19, who have already qualified for the senior division. The overall top speaker at the tournament was another WPGA newcomer, Vincent Gao '22, who impressed the judges with his clear and methodical analysis of the issues.

 

WPGA senior debaters dominated the field at the Churchill Debates October 16. Senior debaters Alison Lee '19 and Elena Wang '19 topped the tournament; Alison took home the top speaker award. Congratulations also to Annushka Agarwal '22, who placed 3rd in the overall speaker category. This was her first senior division tournament.