Laila Kumar

This year’s Chino Valley Education Parliamentary Debate Program (CVEPDP) Winter Classic was held at Chino High School, featuring elementary schools across the district.

Previously, the Ayala Speech and Debate club has experienced many different competitions and events, but on February 23, the club ventured to Chino High School to judge the Chino Valley Education Parliamentary Debate Program (CVEPDP) Winter Classic provided by the National Speech & Debate Association. They were able to judge several primary schools, such as Allegiance STEAM Academy, Country Springs Elementary, Eagle Canyon Elementary, Hidden Trails Elementary, Rhodes Elementary, Rolling Ridge Elementary, and Wickman Elementary. 

This tournament was in the Parliamentary style, which consisted of two teams of three people. Each person is assigned a speaker order with a specific role in the group, whether it be introducing the topic as first speaker, persuading the judge by comparing arguments as second speaker, or refuting the opponent’s point as third speaker. 

During the rounds, the main topic of discussion was whether standardized testing should be eliminated in K-12 institutes. This idea strongly pertained with the lives of these students, creating a great passion within the speeches. 

The president of the debate club, Ryan Chao (11) noticed an evident difference between elementary and high school speeches, explaining “I think the quality of evidence is a lot different, as you’ll see a lot of elementary school students using procon.org, but at the high school level you’d see thorough studies and research reports being used.” 

As the members listened to these student’s speeches, they followed a specific criteria to ensure that they would be able to score participants fairly and provide beneficial feedback to the speakers.

“For the proposition side, they have to build a case. If their case is still standing by the end, then they win. For the opposition side, their whole goal is to prove the other side is wrong, which is justified by their impact and the evidence they used to build their arguments,” Chao said. 

While this was an opportunity to gain volunteer hours and judging experience, many of the members experienced a sense of gratitude just being able to see the improvement of the elementary students that they had been coaching.

“I feel like I learned a lot from meeting the debaters, and you get to know a different side of them during the process,” Vivica Swensen (12) said.

Throughout the event, the debate club was able to acquire knowledge about judging tournaments and managing a round, while benefiting their students by evaluating their performance. This eventful encounter improved the knowledge of the club, and encouraged the passion for speaking throughout the elementary schools that participated.