There are four Ben Davis students who were planning  heading to Albuquerque, New Mexico over the summer. These students are Ariana Hampton, Hala Hershi, Adrian Lezama, and Justina Oluwayomi. These students will be representing the Ben Davis Debate Team at the National competition. They will be debating gun control laws. 

The Nationals were scheduled for June 14-19 but due to the Covid-19 health crisis, the Nationals have been converted to an online tournament. Since this is the first of this kind of Nationals, it remains to be seen how the format will work.

Students will get to see more debating styles from different parts of the United States. Nationals are larger and more stressful than regular meets. At regular meets, students usually only have 3-4 rounds a day, but during nationals, they usually have six rounds a day. During nationals, students can meet people from anywhere, other states and maybe other countries. “It is just the real deal,” Justina Oluwayomi says. 

During a regular meet, the students go to three or four rounds. They will go against other teams each round. Students will go to their rounds back to back. After rounds, students will go to awards. There are many types of debate, so this can take a lot of time depending on the size of the meet. They will call out places for novice and varsity for each round. To make it to finals, students had to place in the top two at a district event. 

“The wildest thing for me that has happened throughout the debate season is like when you are in a round and I feel like I for sure didn’t do well, I definitely lost that round. However, in the end, I end up placing in the top 3 and I find that wild and crazy,” Justina Oluwayomi said.