SPEECH AND DEBATE INDIA GLOBAL CHRONICLES STUDENTS IN THE NEWS:

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Speech and Debate India students advance Globally!

“It was a Fairy Tale Beginning!” To rewind, Speech and Debate India’s Founder, Mr. Rajiv Kacholia described the journey, “As we were completing our first year, I wanted our students to start experiencing the excitement of international debate events. The potential for challenge and development was more imperative than the inevitable losses at a global level against veteran programs. On January 2nd, 2021, the Global Chronicles 2.0 course was launched, with a unique pedagogical approach to train gifted students for international debating formats, in-depth topic analysis, and developing robust affirmative and negative cases.”

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The greatest surprise? Mr. Kacholia added, “My goal was for our teams to become globally competitive in 5 years. So, it was a deeply proud moment, after just 5 weekends of coaching, as we all gathered online after each round at the Stanford University Debate Tournament in February to hear that some of our teams were already starting to win international tournament rounds. And now in 3 months, one of our High School teams won 5 of 6 preliminary rounds. We were thrilled! They then powered through Doubles, Octa finals, and Quarterfinals, all the way to Semifinals at the Georgetown University Debate Tournament – that was incredible, an unexpected early milestone!”

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Advancing Indian debate. In its first 3 months, Speech and Debate India’s Global Chronicles students have rapidly advanced India on the global debate map. Middle School and High School Global Chronicles teams have been recognized as finalists by reaching elimination rounds at each of its first four tournaments. These have included Stanford University, Harvard University, and the recent Georgetown University Debate Tournaments.

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GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY FINALISTS - MORE BELOW FROM OUR SUPER-ACHIEVERS!

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Aahana Khemani, Speech and Debate India (Middle School division), reflections: “The Georgetown University Debate was an absolutely amazing experience. My partner and I were completely astonished that we made it to the elimination rounds, and were extremely nervous! However, we won the first round and regained our confidence. We were over the moon after that round! Despite losing the second elimination round, I personally, learned a lot once I reflected back on the tournament. Debate wise, I learned that it’s important to have a consistent response for every argument the opposition brings on. Generally, I learned that alongside debating passionately, it’s the little fun moments that count!”

 

Ayraah Lodha, Speech and Debate India (Middle School division), reflections: “The Georgetown University debate tournament was amazing! I think we went up against some phenomenal teams, and it was a great learning experience. This was only my second debate tournament ever, so as the rounds started I was extremely nervous in my cases and thought I was going to mess up, as well as the tournaments time going on through the night, because of where we live  as the rounds progressed I realized there was no need too, and if I just let lose and had fun that was what would be memorable. And this experience was! I think I got so engrossed in our cases and was extremely passionate about them, that they even after hours and hours of debating through the night, I still wanted to do more. Overall, this experience was something that taught me how to be passionate about debating and just have fun, and I could not have asked for it to go better.”

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Prahlad Madhu, Speech and Debate India (High School division), reflections: “And as I shut down the laptop, sighed in relief, with a smile on my face, and told Shivani to get some rest, I knew it was all worth it. All the constant preparation, the phone calls, the talks about ice cream, and the jokes we cracked. It had helped us reach somewhere we couldn’t even imagine we’d be. On Sunday, after two rigorous days of debate at the Georgetown University tournament, I sat down and reflected on the mammoth treasure of learnings I had been subject to. The exposure I had basked in. and the journey I had undertaken.

 

For every single research paper, every single session courtesy of Mr. Rajiv, they’d culminated into what I could never dream of. As quite an outspoken ninth grader from the small town of Manipal, I could never dream of doing something like this. Learning about endogeneity, about pro-cyclical and counter-cyclical policies, about neoliberalism and neocolonialism. It all just felt like a fairy tale. Only it wasn’t.

 

In every fairy tale though, there are some fabulous characters. Some exceptional elements. And this tale was no short of those elements. From Shivani, who is arguably one of the greatest debaters I’ve seen, to Ms. Ritika, for just the constant motivation, and just filling the zoom call with pomp, the surplus of such characters. We had our amazing coach Mr. Rajiv, who was just there for Shivani and I irrespective of the time, always backing us, sometimes with great evidence cards, and other times with sheer words. Personally, I had with me two wonderful people. One in Mumbai, one of the most amazing teammates, and brilliant individuals, Shivani, and one who kept giving me coffee to even stay up for these debates, my loving dad. This was what made today possible.”

 

Shivani Shrotri, Speech and Debate India (High School division), reflections: “The Georgetown Spring Tournament was an incredible opportunity where I was able to not only display my debating skills, but learn from other top debaters around the world too. For example, I learned an interesting cross fire strategy from one of our opponents.

I think my favorite part of the experience was the adrenaline rush after each debate because it gave me a surge of positive energy and an increased confidence level. For someone who was unable to confidently and coherently express their thoughts just a little more than a year ago, I can certainly say that debate (especially tournaments such as these) has improved my self-esteem and my overall sense of identity. Therefore, although it took a lot of time and effort, the experience was completely worth it.

Furthermore, the support and assistance provided to us before and during the tournament by our debate academy really helped us learn from our mistakes and improve each round. Hence, any victory we had was a result of the unique pedagogical approach equipped by our coaches to train us.”