Students’ perseverance through the pandemic is something that’s not up for debate.
During the past several months, a team of four Peak to Peak Charter School students has spent countless hours writing, researching and constructing arguments for debate competition. Now, their hard work has paid off.
The students are preparing to compete as finalists in the 20th annual International Public Policy Forum global debate competition, a contest sponsored by the Brewer Foundation and New York University.
The debate team has advanced to the “Elite 8” round, with each team competing for a $10,000 grand prize and the title of “IPPF World Champion.”
“I think it was kind of surreal,” said Peak to Peak junior Alvina Zhang. “It was a lot of hours of work and having to have a lot of brainpower and dedication to the essays, so I think it really paid off in the end.”
The debate finals will take place virtually on May 1. According to a news release, students are debating the topic, “Resolved: The benefits of artificial intelligence outweigh the harms.”
Before the finals, teams had to engage in rounds of written debate during the competition, creating essays that would be sent to the opposing team who reads them and then constructs their own essay response.
The IPPF is the only competition that gives high school students from around the world the opportunity to engage in written and oral debates on issues of public policy, the release stated.
“It’s definitely been a little bit of a learning curve,” said Peak to Peak junior Nivedita Prabhu. “When we first found out we’d be doing debate online, it felt like a big switch from in-person. When we actually started debating, we found that it was actually preferable in some ways.”
“Now, we can spend more time figuring out the content of our speeches rather than only focusing on the ways we’d be perceived and the delivery of the speech.”
Each of the debate teammates have been involved with debate since the start of high school. Peak to Peak junior Bryce Li said the biggest reason why he stuck with it throughout the years was because of the friends and connections he made through it.
“It’s a good way to engage with a lot of ideas I wouldn’t have considered and a lot of topics I never would have really thought about,” Prabhu said.
“The nice thing about debate is you have that opposing perspective and opposing view. It’s a really great way to sort of figure out what you believe and why you believe it, and how you came to those conclusions.”
The students will participate in oral debates for the finals. In preparation, Peak to Peak junior Bronwyn Busby said her team will be looking into arguments from other teams and preparing responses.
“At the end of the day, I’m really just excited because I know we’re going to be prepared, we have a lot of time to be prepared, and I really think everyone on this team is incredible,” Busby said.
“I know at the end of the day it’s all going to come together in the best way we can, so I’m really excited to put that against other teams, and I think it’s going to be a fun experience whether we win or lose.”
People can learn more about the competition at ippfdebate.com.
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April 14, 2021 at 02:59AM
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Peak to Peak Charter School students prepare for finals in global debate competition - Colorado Hometown Weekly
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