By Pepperdine Waves Debate and Prof. Abi Smith

On December 2, 2023, six members of the Chaminade Speech and Debate Society attended Pepperdine University’s Collegiate Debate Workshop and Tournament. Aarav Batra ’26, Ethan Bhat ’27, Marcus Chow ’27, Jasi Cashulin ’27, Paige Harris ’26, and Elyanna Lavine ’26 were the select few chosen from a competitive pool of applicants to participate in the event hosted by Pepperdine University’s Co-Curricular Debate Program. Participants were selected based on their application essays, initial resume submissions, and teacher recommendations. 

The students spent all day at Pepperdine’s Malibu campus. Their morning was dedicated to participating in workshops designed to improve their debate skills and sharpen their rebuttal strategies while also teaching them to leverage their debate experience to build unique and salient resumes and stand out on college applications. Their afternoon was spent engaging in debate rounds while partnered with college debate mentors. Prior to each round, students engaged in collaborative preparation sessions with their college mentor. Across the three preliminary rounds, the Chaminade students received constructive feedback from more than 30 competitive college debaters and students studying communication. 

Following three preliminary rounds, the top four performing Chaminade students were selected to participate in a final round without their college partner,  judged by Professor Abi Smith (Pepperdine’s Director of Debate), Coach Leyla Pisirici (Pepperdine’s Student Debate Director), and Coach Ananya Jain (President of Pepperdine’s Let’s Argue program). After a close round against Aarav and Elyanna, the duo of Paige and Ethan were unanimously selected as tournament champions. Aarav was awarded “Top Speaker” for his performance across all debate rounds. Elyanna was runner-up for the “Top Speaker” award. All of the Chaminade students represented their school and debate club with professionalism, intellectual curiosity, and skill.