Since the beginning of the pandemic, COVID-19 has been creating obstacles for many events and gatherings. The debate team is a perfect example of this. Standard debate competitions include traveling to a different school and having a face-to-face meet; COVID-19 has changed this greatly. Debate tournaments are now done over video call platforms, such as Zoom. Participating in virtual debates has changed the debate experience as a whole.
“It’s awful for seniors not having a last debate but offers a different way to debate,” debate team treasurer Linnea Howie said.
Although seniors will not be able to participate in their final debate, as Howie said, they’ll learn new skills and techniques. Virtual debates have opened the door for new opportunities, such as debating with schools out of state. The team is unsure if they will do in-person debates out-of-state after the pandemic, but they will consider more online meets in the future.
“If online tournaments are still popular in the upcoming years, I think our team will take a serious look at attending them,” debate president Pauline Jonglertham said, “Seeing how other circuits run online tournaments gives us the experience we need to improve ourselves.” No one knows what’s truly to come for debate after COVID-19, but the current pandemic has opened the door for new possibilities.
