Debate Teams Compete at Yale

Oaks Christian’s high school speech and debate program is having a fantastic start to the 2024-25 school year! Between four of the advanced debate teams traveling across the country to the Yale University Invitational Tournament and the program hosting the annual Novice Debate Tournament where OCS students went undefeated, this year is providing tremendous growth opportunities for the debaters.

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic shifted many debate events online, speech and debate teacher Erika Ahn had been searching for the perfect in-person debate tournament to showcase her students' skills. That’s when the Yale University Invitational Tournament caught her eye.

After three long years without a major East Coast competition, Ahn’s excitement grew as she prepared to take four OCS debate teams, consisting of eight students — three juniors, and five seniors—across the country. With only three weeks leading up to the September 20-22 event, the eight students met four days a week in the evenings, adjusting their style to fit the East Coast’s fast-paced, logic-based parliamentary debate format. 

As for our novice debate teams, they recently attended the annual Novice Debate Tournament, where OCS students competed against teams from 20 schools. Over 10 hours and four debate topics, six of Oaks Christian School's teams went undefeated resulting in an OCS matchup against their fellow lions for the title. 

"It was exciting for the students to be able to compete against each other, and every one of them said it was the toughest competition they had gone against all day" beamed Ahn. 

For our advanced debaters at Yale, unlike their usual West Coast approach, which allowed teams 20 minutes and internet access for research, the East Coast approach allows only 15 minutes to prepare arguments, relying solely on students’ knowledge and quick thinking.

“It was a lot of work, but nobody was annoyed that they had to be there since it was such a fun opportunity,” shared senior Anna Reed regarding the team’s preparation schedule for the Yale University Invitational Tournament.

The weekend-long tournament consisted of five rounds each day, with new topics to debate each round. Students gave eight-minute speeches on topics ranging from whether colleges should promote political diversity to whether parents should decide the content of their children’s education. One particularly thought-provoking topic asked whether artificial intelligence should be used as a grading tool. 

Ahn beamed with pride over her students' adaptability towards learning an entirely new debate format with only three weeks to prepare.

“They did really well with the new framework and the new style of arguing,” she said. “They used a lot of the knowledge they had from their OCS classes, bringing in lessons from history, science, philosophers they learned about in English, and even engineering to argue effectively.”

In between rounds, the students took in the breathtaking beauty of Yale’s campus. They visited the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, marveling at the Gutenberg Bible, and were given an insider tour by OCS alumni and Yale freshmen, Tori and Kate Simonds.

For Ahn, it was about watching her students grow as thinkers, speakers, and teammates.

“These kids pushed through at 100 percent and never lost steam. They argued their last round as if it was their first,” she said proudly. “At the end of the weekend, they were so proud of themselves and one another.”

Reed, who has wanted to be a lawyer since she was five, viewed debate as the perfect extracurricular to hone her skills, “For me, I always liked public speaking and knew I always wanted to be a lawyer from the time I was five, it’s such a good life skill to have that I would do it over again.”

On the other hand, her fellow senior teammate, Ashley Orefice, joined the team for a more personal reason. 

“I’m very quiet and shy, and I never really enjoyed public speaking. It made me nervous, but that’s why I decided to take the class—because I wanted to have that skill,” she said.

Looking ahead, Reed is excited to continue debating at the collegiate level next fall, while Orefice remains undecided in her collegiate path but is grateful for the life skills she gained from being part of debate.

Ahn’s impact on her students was clear. “Mrs. Ahn serves as such a great role model,” Orefice reflected. “She’s so organized, competent, and kind. That’s half the reason I do debate—because Mrs. Ahn is so fun to be around, and she teaches us so many life lessons.”

Ahn has already begun preparations for next year and is looking forward to taking more teams to Yale.