SOMS DEBATE TEAM EXCELS IN BRONX TOURNEY

On Saturday, April 5,2014 the South Orangetown Middle School (SOMS) Debate team competed in the New York City Urban Debate League (NYCUDL) Battle of the Boroughs Middle School Debate Tournament hosted by the Bronx High School of Science in the Bronx, NY. The tournament was the largest middle school debate tournament on the East Coast featuring hundreds of debaters.

Three SOMS teams: SOCSD S,M,L (Ruben Sriskanda, Sam Markoe, Alex Lederer), SOCSD G,J,H (Brendan Guy, Ivan Jacob, Kevin Huang) and SOCSD J,L,X (Mitchell Jacobs, Jake Laddis) participated in the NYCUDL’s Battle of the Boroughs Middle School Debate Tournament, Advanced Parliamentary Debate event. Parliamentary Debate is uniquely suited to building what has been called the ‘Four C’s’ of 21st century skills—critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. “Debate empowers personal expression, poise and self-confidence and develops the necessary research skills for today’s student”, said Patricia Eyer, SOMS coach and library media specialist.

Team SOCSD J,L,X (Mitchell Jacobs, Jake Laddis) placed second out of the field of thirty-seven. This win was made possible for the team due to the tireless efforts and research of the entire SOMS debate teams. South Orangetown Middle School was the only participating middle school from outside of New York City’s five boroughs. The SOMS Debate Team is looking for middle schools in Rockland County to partner with in order to build a network of schools to compete and support each other through the development of a local league. To learn more about the Metropolitan Debate League, visit: http://metropolitandebate.org, or contact Patricia Eyer at peyer@socsd.org.