Columbus Hosts First Debate Tournament
by Benjamin Corral
This past weekend, Columbus hosted the first Adelante International World Schools Debate Tournament. The tournament ran from Thursday, Jan. 18 to Saturday, Jan.
20, being hosted entirely on the Christopher Columbus campus.
Schools from across the nation were in attendance, including those from California and Texas. A total of five states and six schools were represented. The tournament included the usual brackets of Novice and Varsity debate in English. However, the unique setting of Christopher Columbus High School allowed for enough Spanish speakers to host a Spanish-speaking bracket. Very few other tournaments outside of the college
circuit includes debate in languages other than English, which provided a unique opportunity for the competitors wishing to compete in unorthodox ways.
The topics debated in the tournament included various global issues such as China’s investment in South America and the Monroe Doctrine, as well as more personal topics such as the rise of subscription-based streaming media.
The Explorers were successful in both the English and Spanish divisions of the tournament. In the English Varsity Division, a team comprised of Martin Seals '24, Bruno
Barreiro '24, Sven Stumbauer '25, and Lucas Rivera '25 managed to place second on a 6-3 vote in favor of their opposition. Stumbauer also managed to place as the Third-best
speaker in the tournament with an average of 74.25 speaker points per round, just 1.75 below the top speaker.
In the Spanish Division, Columbus Debater Nicholas Diaz '24 managed to place second with his team composed of himself alongside Sophia Gomez and Graham Neely from Colorado. The entire collaborative team was successful in speaker points as well, with Gomez placing second, Diaz placing third, and Neely placing fifth.
Due to the tournament's unique setting of Miami, the team decided to host a Hispanic
Night on Friday to show off the unique variety of cultures represented in the team and the Miami area. The night consisted of unique Latin American food made by participants' parents, such as moros, arroz con pollo, yuca and alfajores, as well as Latin music and Salsa dancing. This provided the students from other states an opportunity to experience the stables of Hispanic culture and form new relationships.
Columbus student and competitor Bruno Brarrieo described the night as, “A fun and educational event for both the students visiting the and those hosting.”
Overall the night not only resulted in multiple successes for Columbus but also bonding
and experience for our students. The entire debate team appreciates this event and hopes for more events of this nature in the future.
