Dalton News

Dalton Debaters Win Local, State, and National Tournaments

Dalton’s debate team enjoyed an exceptional April, earning championships in three different tournaments over seven days.
Qualifying for the Tournament of Champions, the most challenging debate tournament in America, requires competitors to earn awards at two other national tournaments. Not only did JJ Yu '21 and Rebecca Solomon '21 qualify, but the duo also made Dalton history by winning the event!
 
Squaring off against the top teams in the nation, JJ and Rebecca defied the odds and overcame a challenging field of competitors by advancing through seven preliminary debates and a gauntlet of elimination rounds. With encyclopedic knowledge and peerless skill, the team tackled the topic, “Does the International Monetary Fund do more good or harm?”
 
JJ and Rebecca used the final round’s platform, viewed by thousands of students, parents, and coaches around the country, to confront the equity issues faced by trans debaters. Their effort prompted an hour-long public conversation on the efforts needed to make debates more trans-inclusive.

Dalton’s Public Forum Debate Coach Evan Streams described the performance saying, “Winning a debate by deviating from the assigned topic is extremely difficult, and to take a risk and succeed was a feat of both skill and courage.”

JJ finished as the top-ranked individual speaker at the tournament, while Rebecca ranked 13th in the field over more than 200 competitors. In addition, Lila Sternoff ’22 and Leo Yu ’23 won four out of seven rounds against the nation’s top debaters and came within a single vote of the elimination bracket.
 
On Saturday, April 24, it was the younger Tigers’ turn to shine. The team competed at the Connecticut Middle School Debate Association’s final event of the year.
 
The topic of the day was “whether the government ought to waive standardized testing requirements for this school year.” Ollie Feder '25, Maxwell Massiah '25, and Vihaan Kotahwala '25 advanced into the championship round to argue against the proposal in front of the assembled debaters and coaches.
 
Ollie began by pointing out the basic need for standardized testing to identify struggling students and failing schools, a need more vital than ever in an unprecedented time. Maxwell turned the opponents’ own arguments against them, explaining that proposed alternatives to standardized testing would, in fact, be less fair and more stressful. Finally, Vihaan summarized the debate, asking the audience, “If you’re worried about mental health, what will happen to students’ mental health next year when they show up to classes unprepared and start failing?” After this performance, the panel of judges unanimously declared the trio as champions. This marks the second championship for “Team MOV” this year.

Also competing in the open division, Nilomi Weerakkody '25 was the 11th-place speaker. Nilomi and her partners Aida Kasparova '25 and Anysa Bickici '25 came slightly short of a team award this time but added two more victories to their season record, winning 17-of-19 debates so far, an astonishing 90 percent win rate.

In the novice division, competing for their first time, Zohar Lindemann '26, Mira Gulati ’26, and Sorochi Sunday '26 were the fifth-place team. Zohar and Mira were also recognized as the ninth and tenth speakers, respectively.

While the middle school students were taking home the title in their event, the Tigers high school debaters competed in the New York JV State Championship. After a string of wins on Friday and Saturday, four Dalton students returned on Sunday for the elimination bracket. Zach Berg ’24 and Jasper Karlson ’24 went undefeated en route to the championship. Competing alongside the duo, Annika Jha ’24 and Anya Levin ’24 advanced into the octafinal round, putting them in the top 16 of roughly 100 teams in their division.

Despite all of the success to date, the Dalton debate team’s season continues. In May, the middle school students will compete in the NYC Championship and Connecticut State Championship. Then, in June, JJ Yu ’21 and Lila Sternoff ’22 will represent Dalton at the National Championship of the National Speech and Debate Association.

Story submitted by: Dalton Public Forum Debate Coach Evan Streams
Back
(Grades K-3) 53 East 91st Street
New York, NY 10128
General: (212) 423-5200 | Admissions: (212) 423-5463
General: info@dalton.org | Admissions: fpadmissions@dalton.org

(Gr. 4 Dalton East & PE Center) 200 East 87th Street
New York, NY 10128
General: (212) 423-5200 | Admissions: (212) 423-5262
General: info@dalton.org | Admissions: admissionsmshs@dalton.org

(Grade 5-12) 108 East 89th Street
New York, NY 10128
General: (212) 423-5200 | Admissions: (212) 423-5262
General: info@dalton.org | Admissions: admissionsmshs@dalton.org