Policy debate duo junior Nassim Fedel and senior Scott Zhuge pose with their trophies after qualifying for the California State Championships, held from April 15-17 in San Diego, Calif. They were the first Paly policy team to do so.
– Jennie Savage
Palo Alto High School’s policy debate team will travel to San Diego, Calif. for the state championships in April, after successfully battling through tough opponents in the district qualifying tournament held on April 11-12 at Westmont High School.
Policy debate duo senior Scott Zhuge and junior Nassim Fedel represent the first Paly policy team ever to earn an invitation to the state championships. However, Paly has recently qualified two Lincoln-Douglas debaters to states: Avi Arfin (class of 2010), who won states two years ago, and Jujhaar Singh (class of 2010), according to Zhuge.
Qualifying for states is difficult because Paly competes in one of the toughest districts in the state, according to Director of Forensics Jennie Savage.
“Our division regularly wins the California State Championship [Tournament], so we have perhaps the most competitive league in the state for policy debate,” Savage said. “That Scott and Nassim could earn one of the slots to compete there, beating out Bellarmine [College Preperatory], St. Francis [High School] and others to get there, is hugely impressive and a first for Palo Alto High School.”
In policy debate, teams of two students argue whether the United States federal government should adopt a particular policy solution, which should fall under a resolution that alternates between focusing on foreign and domestic issues, according to Zhuge.
“The policy debate topic stays the same for the entire year, while the LD [Lincoln-Douglas] topic changes every several months,” Fedel said.
The policy resolution for 2010-11 reads, “Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce its military and/or police presence in one or more of the following: South Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Iraq, Turkey.” Paly faced tough competition during the two-day tournament from powerhouses Bellarmine and Leland High School, which send debaters to states every year, according to Zhuge.
“Our opponents were very competitive,” Fedel said. “Bellarmine is usually extremely dominant, and I’m happy we were able to beat one of their teams in the final round.”
The team Paly started slowly, according to Zhuge, as he and Fedel lost two out of their first three rounds. However, they pulled a strong finish by winning their next three debates without making large adjustments to their strategy.
“Our strategy was to stay calm and debate in the way that had worked for us at previous tournaments,” Fedel said. “We had a rocky start at the tournament, but after a couple of rounds we pulled it together and did some of the best debating we’ve done all year.”
To prepare for the upcoming state tournament, the team will polish its persuasive argumentation skills and continue researching, according to Fedel.
“To prepare, we will do ‘rebuttal redoes’ [redo speeches from past debate rounds] and research to have the most recent evidence possible,” Fedel said.
The team will alter their arguments in response to the recent natural disaster in Japan.
“We’ll continue doing research and adapting our strategies to current politics,” Zhuge said. “For example, the earthquake in Japan, which occurred right before the tournament, made a huge impact in the debate arguments. There is always time to update and improve our arguments.”
“The disaster in Japan will probably make it more difficult for affirmatives to read cases that advocate withdrawing from Japan, since US troops do take part in humanitarian relief efforts,” Fedel added. “However, teams could read plans that only withdraw troops that are not used for aid, or they could just answer the argument.”
The team is optimistic about their its chances of succeeding at states.
“I look forward to having fun at the state tournament and doing my best,” Fedel said. “We’re really motivated to work our hardest.”