Written by Jason Stansell

The National Speech and Debate Season Opener at University of Kentucky, also known as the University of Kentucky Season Opener, was a rousing success this year. Several Potomac Debate Academy teams competed online in Public Forum Debate in both the Public Forum Open and Middle School Public Forum Divisions, debating the current topic, “Resolved: The United Kingdom should rejoin the European Union.”

Three PDA teams consisting of Veer P. & Anthony L., Leo F. & Daven K., and Kaitlyn Z. & Aniruddh D. competed strongly in the Public Forum Open Division against 141 other teams. After many rounds, Veer & Anthony reached the Double-Octafinals Elimination Round before being eliminated. All three teams had solid performances and commendable effort was made by each debater.

Out of 32 teams that took part in the Middle School Public Forum Division, five were from PDA. The teams consisted of Akhil P. & Stevenson T., Ethan C. & Rishaan K., Olivia W. & Aashvi B., Advaita B. & Mya N. and Iris A. & Nandini B.

Three of these PDA teams won their debates in the Quarterfinals. Advancing further to the Semifinals. Akhil said of this accomplishment, “This win meant so much to me and my teammate! Everyday me and my partner met up to do work on our preparation, and some days we didn’t do much and some days we did a lot of work. After this win it meant so much to me as all the time and effort paid off. Each round in the tournament got harder and harder, but we pushed through and tackled the challenges as a team.”

While Akhil & Stevenson were eliminated in the semifinals, it took another PDA team to do it. This left two PDA teams up against each other in the finals, Ethan & Rishaan versus Iris & Nandini. The final win went to the latter team. Iris said, “Our win at UKSO was a great start to this season! The overall experience was amazing, especially the coaching and teamwork between all Potomac teams, whether it was debriefing after rounds or sharing tips with each other. This tournament has definitely given us more topic knowledge as well as given us a chance to strengthen our skills and we look forward to applying what we learned to future tournaments as well!“

We are proud of all our teams from PDA, they worked really hard and did a great job at the tournament. This is a great sign for things to come this year.