We are excited to announce that registration for VBI 2021 is now open at vbidebate.com!
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VBI Adding Online Summer Session
We are also excited to announce VBI Online, a virtual session of VBI that will run June 27 – July 10, 2020.
VBI
Philimon Yosafat and Ritvik Sriram co-champion ASU
Congratulations to Basis Peoria’s Philimon Yosafat and Live Oak’s Ritvik Sriram for closing out the 2021 Arizona State HDSHC Invitational. In semifinals, Ritvik defeated Presentation’s Nikita Raman on a 2-1 (Yi*, Mork, Fleming) and Philimon defeated Northland Christian’s Lilly Broussard on a 3-0 (Evans, Barquin, Matton). Congratulations to Presentation’s Nikita Raman for being top speaker. […]
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Giovanni Cutri wins Newark
Congratulations to Harrison’s Giovanni Cutri for winning the 2021 Newark Invitational. In finals, Giovanni defeated Bronx Science’s Dahlia Bekong on a 6-5 (Fakorede*, Kukreja*, Hemnarine*, Mendoza*, White*, Asafu-Adjaye, Ogundare, Randall, Smith, Stafford, Wyche). Full results and pairings can be found here.
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Jarvis Xie and Sebastian Cho co-champion Winston Churchill
Congratulations to Strake Jesuit’s Jarvis Xie and Memorial High School’s Sebastian Cho for co-championing the 2021 Winston Churchill Classic. In semifinals, Jarvis defeated Legacy Christian’s Breigh Plat on a 3-0 (Le, Le, Kotamraju) and Sebastian defeated Dripping Springs’ Jackson Kaiser on a 3-0 (Bukowsky, Siddiqi, Wolf). Congratulations to Jarvis for also being top speaker. Full […]
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Raaiqa Zahid wins Laird Lewis
Congratulations to Dulles High School’s Raaiqa Zahid for winning the 2021 Laird Lewis Invitational at Myers Park. In finals, Raaiqa defeated Providence High School’s Samad Rangoonwala on a 2-1 (Tian*, Ewington, Zalavadia). Congratulations to Plano Independent’s Nathan Gong for being top speaker. Full results and pairings can be found here.
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Lexington closes out Sunvite
Congratulations to Lexington High School’s Brett Fortier and Austin Li for closing out the 2021 Sunvite. In semifinals, Brett defeated American Heritage Broward’s Prateek Gupta on a 2-1 (Wang*, Karcher, Namdhari) and Austin defeated Diamond Bar’s Nathan Chu on a 3-0 (Brown, Scopa, Shah). Congratulations to Cardinal Gibbons’ Roberto Sosa for being top speaker. Full […]
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The Dangers of Theory in Public Forum Debate by Nina Potischman and Nate Odenkirk
Nina and Nate are Public Forum debate coaches for Oakwood Secondary School in Los Angeles. Between them, they have 13 years of experience judging and competing in circuit LD and PF. Varsity Public Forum circa 2021 is little different from Novice Policy, or JV LD. PF teams have found success running hackneyed “theory,” in which […]
Opinion
Feb PF Topic is West Africa
The 2021 February Public Forum debate topic is, Resolved: On balance, the benefits of urbanization in West Africa outweigh the harms.
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Five Trends Among E-Debate Competitors by Peter Zhang
Peter Zhang is a student at UC Berkeley, a former TOC quarterfinalist, and an assistant coach at The Bronx High School of Science. Introduction Tournaments this season have, so far, been held exclusively online. While judging debate rounds certainly feels different through a Zoom window, virtual platforms have also affected who chooses to sign up […]
Briefly, Opinion
Abhinav Sinha wins Strake
Congratulations to Dulles High School’s Abhinav Sinha for winning the 2020 Strake Jesuit Debate Tournament. In finals, Abhinav defeated American Heritage Broward High School’s Emilin Mathew on a 2-1 (McConway*, Wu, Herrera). Congratulations to Emilin for also being top speaker. Full results and pairings can be found here.
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Cobin Szymanski wins Blake
Congratulations to St Michael Albertville High School’s Cobin Szymanski for winning the 2020 John Edie Holiday Debates hosted by the Blake School. In finals, Cobin defeated Lexington’s Vikrant Maan on a 2-1 (Myers*, Pridgen, Kukreja). Congratulations to Harrison’s Giovanni Cutri for being top speaker. Full results and pairings can be found here.
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