Ridgefield High School (RHS) Debate Team advisor Adam Horvath reports that the team has concluded another debate season after attending the Connecticut Debate Association (CDA) State Finals (03/23) and the Yale University Osterweis Annual Debate Tournament (04/07).
Across these tournaments, RHS students competed in rounds of debate with teams from other Connecticut schools as they argued multiple resolutions, with the team of James Cox-Donovan and Gabriel Uceda-Sosa progressing into the semi-finals and finals in a full day of debate (8:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m).
In the end, RHS won 13 rounds of debate across these tournaments and earned 4th Place at the CDA State Championships (out of 38 qualifying teams) and 2nd Place at Yale University Osterweis (out of 34 teams) after beating the 4-0 team from Hamden Hall in the semi-finals and facing the only other 4-0 team from Joel Barlow in the final round, as judged by Yale University students.
Mr. Horvath writes, "Senior Debate Captains James Cox-Donovan and Gabriel Uceda-Sosa have now ended their 4-year competitive careers with the RHS Debate Team after winning multiple trophies and accolades for RHS, in addition to managing the team as student-leaders for two years. It has been a distinct honor to watch these two develop their skills and become mindful, resilient, collaborative, innovative, and knowledgeable fixtures in the RHS student community. I believe they exemplify all of our core values as both individuals and student-leaders committed to coaching others. We wish them luck as they prepare to see how far their skills, efforts, and values will take them as they transition to Harvard University and Columbia University, respectively, next year."