From left: Charlotte Stokes, Ananda Geller, Amadea Datel, Charles Brainin, Romas Moore [Courtesy Photo/Amadea Datel]
The Brookline High School Lincoln Douglas Debate Team recently returned from their third tournament of the season, the Tim Averill Invitational, where freshman Charles Brainin placed first and won top speaker in Novice LD and senior Amadea Datel placed third and won top speaker in Varsity LD. Datel and junior Levi Cannon revamped the team this season by recruiting more than 10 new novices and teaching them the basics of the highly-technical format, which is comprised of one-on-one debates against students from other schools over bimonthly topics ranging from foreign policy to economic issues to education reform. “As a freshman,” Charlotte Stokes, champion and top speaker of the Novice Tournament, states, “I was apprehensive about entering BHS. I had common worries, about fitting in and finding groups and clubs that would support me throughout high school. Fortunately, the debate team has been a wonderful addition to my extracurricular schedule, with a relaxed atmosphere and knowledgeable upperclassmen willing to answer all of my questions and help me improve.” Although the team performed well at its first tournaments, the team members recognize that attempting to sustain a competitive club without administrative support has been far from optimal. By increasing their visibility in the Brookline community, they hope to garner more attention from their school. Stokes acknowledges that “the lack of adult coaching puts a large workload on the upperclassmen who lead the club and makes it difficult for the team to excel.” “The whole team is great and we could really benefit from school funding and coaching so we could reach our full potential,” freshman Ananda Geller, fourth speaker of the Novice Tournament, adds. “I don’t know of any other debate program in the state that is completely student-run,” Datel states. “While we have been able to procure $1,000 in funds from two generous donors, John Hodgman and Hsiu-Lan Chang, debate is an expensive activity when taking into account registration and judge fees, membership dues, and travel expenses. Furthermore, it would be amazing if we had a teacher or coach affiliated with our school who could chaperone us at out-of-state tournaments and help us with the registration process, so we could actually focus on improving our debating instead of having the logistical side consume all of our time.” If you’re a student at BHS and you’re looking to add an activity to your schedule this year, look no further. “It’s an amazing experience,” freshman Krista Lee emphasizes, saying of Datel and Cannon, “they are out-of-this-world teachers and pretty chill.”