Bacon Academy Debate Team Advances to Next Round

On Friday, December 6th, the Bacon Academy Debate Team went to Norwich Free Academy to compete in the first round of the Dr. Grace Sawyer Jones Debate Competition. The resolve statement for this round of the competition was: The United States Should Ban Bottled Water.

The Novice Team, consisting of Sara Rosenthal, Emily Cowan, Clare McIntyre, and Xander Weddall, debated against a team from Norwich Free Academy defending the affirmative side. Sara and Emily built up the constructive argument supporting the ban of bottled water by citing a plastic bottle’s environmental impact and the replacements for plastic bottles that could be used instead. Clare and Xander came in afterwards with rebuttal, defending their teammates arguments and refuting the other side’s.

Later in the day, the Advanced Team, consisting of Olivia Donahue, Julia Horlitz, Abby Auden, and Caitlin Bagdasarian, debated against a team from St. Bernard School defending the negative side. Building the argument, Olivia and Julia reminded everyone of the places in the world where clean water is harder to access- like Flint, Michigan- and how plastic water bottles become necessary in times of natural disaster. Further defending the use of plastic water bottles, Abby and Caitlin worked hard to refute the other team’s taxation plan.

At the end of the day, both teams were extremely dedicated to formulating and defending their arguments. In the Novice Division, the Bacon Academy team rose up and earned Second Place. Also, in Second Place overall, the Advanced Team saw their work pay off. In both cases, the teams get to move forward in the competition and will be seen early next year competing in the semi-finals (and hopefully finals) at Three Rivers Community College.

Come support the teams next year and send love to them on their success so far!