SUNDAY – The third annual Shanghai American School Debate Open (SAS DO) came to a close last weekend with SAS Puxi’s Clement and Co’s Dubs Factory team taking the champion title. The champion team, made up of Ted Chang ’20 and Clement Tsao ’24, were pitched against SAS Pudong’s Pep A team in an engaging debate on the topic of “This house proposes a world where people can choose to live forever.”
Pep A, consisting of two eighth grade twins by the names of Adam Zheng and Andrew Zheng, was the unexpected yet widely welcomed runner-up team. Teacher supervisor of SAS PD’s Debate Union club and participating teacher judge Michael Crachiolo commented on the pair’s remarkable capabilities. “Seeing such young people give off such an experienced ability to give speeches and make arguments was inspirational and shocking at the same time.”
Being completely student-run, the tournament is known for its friendly atmosphere, welcoming debaters from middle and high school, from all different skill levels alike. “Even though it is competitive, it feels less competitive and more fun,” Crachiolo said.
That welcoming atmosphere also made the tournament more susceptible to new debaters such as those of the Pudong Who is Joe? team. One of members of the team Anirudh Ganesh ’21 said, “I haven’t debated ever, and [SAS DO] was pretty inviting to me. The motions are not all too crazy and convoluted.”
The Who is Joe? team is also known for their unique argumentative style. Joey Wang ’21 pointed out how they used humor in their speeches and how much fun they had with the debate. Eddy Xu, ’21 from SAS Puxi, said, “Given that we have done so much debating, we can get kind of jaded and boxed in to think of debating as one certain of thing – a competitive thing. So it’s very refreshing to see people who are thinking outside the box and thinking of things we wouldn’t have thought of.”
Xu also said that SAS DO is forgiving to people who take risks and chances, including consolation rounds and multiple layers of intimacy. “When you’re speaking you see friendly faces on the panel; when you hear feedback they are very constructive and try to be encouraging.”
This friendly approach to a debate tournament also allowed for teachers and students to see their peers who were not in the popular debate scene in a new light. ShuRui Lai ’21 commented on seeing her friends that she didn’t know were into debate join SAS DO. “Seeing them in a completely different way trying to argue, trying to prove the motions that I was able to judge, was really refreshing perspective.”
Crachiolo seconds this. “I’ve always liked debate because sometimes, people have a completely different personality in the debate round from the classroom or outside the classroom. I think that’s always fascinating: to see the different sides of a student.”
(A statement from the President of the SAS Debate Union will be added here before publication.)