Senior Raja Ramesh and junior Alisa Yan of RM’s Debate Team won the Montgomery County debate championships on February 25. RM dominated the championship and garnered first place as a school, followed by Poolesville and Walter Johnson.
Nearly every RM team pair attended the playoffs, and 11 of the top 32 teams were from RM. “When they started announcing names for the round of 32, we kept hearing RM over and over again,” said Ramesh, co-president of RM’s debate team. Three Richard Montgomery teams were in the semifinals.
The final two teams left standing were both from RM. Senior Paxon Yu and sophomore Grace Wang, who held a perfect 10-0 record during the season, lost to Ramesh and Yan. Ramesh said, “It was truly an unprecedented team performance and showed that all the things we had been focusing on in practice paid off.” Sophomore Julia Wang stated, “RM really crushed it this year and everybody in the county knew it.”
Though on multiple occasions RM teams had to square off against each other, the debate team members remained supportive. Junior Holly Shan said, “Throughout the entire process, every member of the team was cheering and giving advice to each other and it was truly motivating.”
RM follows the public-forum debate structure, which is a two-on-two event. The debates began with four-minute opening speeches followed by cross-fire (the opposing side’s opportunity for questions). Each team then proceeds to rebuttal speeches and cross-fire, after which follows brief speeches, a grand crossfire, and a final focus.
The debate season began in the fall, when students tried out for a position on the team. Members dedicated much time and energy into debate as Ramesh mentioned the “late nights and early morning working on debate cases.”
“I feel like I gain something every time I debate,” said Wang. “This year was my first time advancing to the top 16 and I am constantly learning and developing new skills that make me a better debater.”
“All the teams we faced this year had something unique to them,” added Yu. “Debate is equal parts argument and equal parts persuasion and so to future debate members, I’d just say don’t sweat it. Everything comes with time.”
Ramesh, who will also be graduating this year, remarked, “I’m super proud of them. I have immense faith that the younger debaters will continue RM’s hegemony in the Montgomery County debate circuit.”
