On January 28th, the community room was filled with parents, teachers, and friends anxiously waiting for the final debate about syrian refugees and governments allowing them in the country. Seniors Terrin Tropea and Joe Robinson faced off against Matt Fischetti and Peter Shannon, arguing for the affirmative and negative respectively. The debate was judged by Ms. Murphy and Ms. Lan, while senior Matt Cerza kept time of every stage of the debate. Both arguments were very well formed and neither team had an edge going into the judges deliberation.

Tropea and Robinson focused on the government taking on a proactive role in the resettlement of refugees, arguing that it would expand the GDP of the countries and unemployment would be driven down by the incoming workforce. Fischetti and Shannon focused on the national security threat that is posed when governments allow mass immigration. They emphasized that there are not thorough enough background checks to root out potential national security threats and that the government should focus on the well-being of its own citizens over. The crossfire rounds, where one participant from both teams stands up and individually debates with the opponent, were very factual and logical as both teams made great points and counterpoints.

After closing statements were delivered by Tropea and Shannon, the judges met with Ms. Cerza in the hallway and went over the scoring rubric, which individually grades each participant of the debate. The judges decided that the affirmative side won narrowly over the negative side, explaining that Tropea and Robinson used clearer statistics and did not rely on facts to drive their argument, but integrated them into their arguments instead.

After the decision, Fischetti said, “the other side did a great job. This was a great experience.”
Principal Mr. Neigel emphasized that these debates, “bring current events to light in an exciting and educational fashion.” He added, “[the teams] did a great job. This higher level of thinking is something that everyone can learn from.”

While not every student is facing off against another team in front of dozens of people, the skills learned while preparing and participating in debates can be applied to many situations in the classroom and in the professional office.