KO debaters win competition honors

Seven members of Kingswood Oxford's Forensic Union earned honors at two debate tournaments and two students qualified to compete on the U.S. team in the World Competition in South Africa next spring.
At the cross-examination tournament held at St. Paul's School, in Concord, NH, KO's four-person team -Rudy DeBerry, Mike Hathaway, Caley Henderson, and Matthew Kahn– competed against teams from 10 schools, all part of the Debating Association of New England Independent Schools.
The topic prepared for the debate was, "The U.S. Government should cease using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to assassinate individuals in foreign countries."
KO won first place among advanced teams; the affirmative pair of Henderson and Kahn placed third, the negative pair of Hathaway and DeBerry placed second.
DeBerry won the top award as overall advanced individual speaker, which qualified him for a spot on the U.S. team tp compete in South Africa.
Other schools at the competition were: Belmont Hill, Choate, Deerfield, Groton, Phillips Andover, Phillips Exeter, Roxbury Latin, St. Paul's, and St. Sebastian's.
KO also had a three-person team competing against 38 schools from seven countries at the International Independent Schools Public Speaking Championships held at an independent school just south of Calgary, Canada.
John Chatigny, Sophie Kruger and Maddie Pazzani placed 15th in the competition. Other countries at the competition were: Bahamas, Canada, Cyprus, England, India, and Lithuania.
Pazzani placed 13th in Interpretive Reading and 25th in After-Dinner Speaking. Chatigny came in 3rd in Impromptu Speaking and 21st in After-Dinner Speaking. Kruger placed 7th in Parliamentary Debate and 34th overall (out of 129 speakers), and also qualified for the U.S. team that will compete in South Africa.
Photo: Kingswood Oxford students (from left) Sophie Kruger, of West Hartford, John Chatigny, of Simsbury, and Maddie Pazzani, of Farmington, traveled to Calgary, Canada, for the recent debate competition.