CCA sophomores take first place at Regional Debate Tournament

Canyon Crest Academy sophomore students and CCA Speech & Debate teammates Aria Khaitan and Sofia Inamdar won first place prize in their division by being the only team to go undefeated at the first San Diego Imperial Valley Speech League (SDIVSL) tournament of the 2022-2023 school year. Aria and Sofia defeated four teams from other regional high schools at League Tournament #1-A held on Sept. 10 at Helix Charter High School in La Mesa, ending as the only team to go 4-0 in the Novice Parliamentary division. They were informed by their team captain that they are the first team in Parliamentary debating from CCA in eight years to win an award.

SDIVSL serves high schools in the counties of San Diego and Imperial Valley as the regional league of the California High School Speech Association (CHSSA). They conduct several debate tournaments throughout the academic year, with League Tournament #1-A as the first one for 2022-2023.

The CCA Speech & Debate team meets after school twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. The 2022-2023 school year is the 10th year for the club, during which time they have gone from about five members to becoming the largest club on CCA’s campus. This is Sofia’s second year competing and Aria’s first year and first tournament. They teamed up for the League #1-A tourney in the Novice Parliamentary division. The tournament also featured teams competing in the Public Forum division.

Parliamentary debate (Parli) is extemporaneous debating on topics that change from debate to debate. There are two speakers per team, and two teams in a debate. Contestants debate a wide variety of topics drawn from current events, contemporary culture, domestic and international issues, politics and philosophy. Resolutions fall under three broad categories of Fact in which teams debate the factuality of a given statement, Value in which both sides debate which value should be upheld, and Policy in which the proposition offers a plan regarding the resolution given and the opposition must debate the merits of the proposition’s stance. Topics are announced merely 20 minutes before the beginning of each debate. Students may conduct research during this designated preparation time only, and are not permitted to use any materials prepared prior to the announcement of the topic.