Upper School’s Debate Club is Learning in Every Competition

Thanks to the efforts of Maddox Wolfe ’25 and Upper School Science Teacher Dr. John Cordell, the Upper School Debate Club competed in the National Speech & Debate Association this year. The club comprises Wolfe, Max Kaufmann ’25, Sam Jones ’28, Aalyaan Yasser ’28, Elijah Calacaterra ’25 and Abigail Dzurik ’28 and is coached by Jack Carvalho ’17, who joined in the fall to sharpen their debate strategies and skills.

From there, they started looking for competitions. Their first competition was a “World School” competition, which has a different style than the usual team of two versus another team of two. New to the style, the Falcons still competed but didn’t qualify for bracket play.

Their next competition was in November 2024 and they moved to “Public Forum,” which is the usual style of debate. Wolfe and Calcaterra represented FWCD and won most of their matches despite it being their first time competing in this format. Even though they missed the cut by an eighth of a point to move on, they received high praise from the host school, Grandview High School, for their incredible showing. 

The club returned to competition in January, competing at the Stephen F. Austin Virtual Debate on February 15. Calcaterra competed in a solo competition called “Congressional,” which simulates Congress and the arguments made on the House floor. Wolfe teamed up with Yasser, and the pair went on a four-match winning streak, taking them to the finals of the “Novice Public Forum,” where they placed second. 

“Maddox, Aalyaan and Elijah's wins exemplify what makes the Country Day Debate Team, and Country Day overall, special,” said Carvalho. “Each ventured into unknown territory with a passion to achieve great things and a curiosity to learn how to improve rapidly, even from match to match. These are exactly the skills that will make them successful in college and in a professional workforce. It's exciting to see students like these three work to be successful debaters, and I'm proud to be their coach for them and the entire FWCD Debate Team.”