Chelmsford High School Debate Teams Advance To Prestigious Events

CHELMSFORD, MA — A Chelmsford High School team is advancing to compete in the Massachusetts Speech and Debate League finals April 10 and 11. They've also qualified for the renowned UK Tournament of Champions and the prestigious NCFL Grand National.

The students have taken part in nearly two dozen debates and have had more practice than usual, thanks, in part, to how the debates have adapted to an online environment amid the pandemic.

The six Chelmsford High School Speech and Debate Team members have been able to compete in twice as many tournaments than a normal season: The Duke University Internationals, the Bellaire Forensic Tournament in Texas and the Dowling Catholic Paradigm in Iowa, among them.

“I do hate to say that Covid-19 was beneficial for anything, but having online debate was really beneficial to me and Prateek [Motagi],” said sophomore Arjun Lingala, referring his teammate.

Sophomores Avaneesh Mallela and Rishi Ajmera and the team of junior Vishant Raajkumar and sophomore Divya Sambasivan will join the two at the Massachusetts Speech and Debate League finals this weekend online.

Though only sophomores, the Motagi and Lingala are ranked No. 10 in the state and will also enter the UK Tournament of Champions Apr. 17-19; and the National Catholic Forensics League Grand National May 28-30.

The finals this weekend are the team's specialty. Public Forum debates involve two teams arguing pro (true) and con (false) with one opportunity for defense and rebuttal. The outcome is decided by one judge.

The topic for this weekend’s competition is titled Resolved: On balance, the benefits of creating the United States Space Force outweigh the harms.

“Public Forum is the main event we do,” said Lingala. “We’ve put in a lot of work. We’re just sophomores, so we still have a ways to go."

Following the UK Tournament of Champions, they will have about six weeks to prepare for the NCFL Grand National.

The Grand National contestants will compete in Policy Debate, in which the affirmative side makes a policy change claim supported by the claim of harm, proof of harm and a plan that solves the harm. In turn, the negative side attacks all three claims and presents a counterplan.

The topic for the Grand National is Criminal Justice Reform in the U.S.

“We hope to win the entire tournament,” said Motagi.