Foundations — Grade 12 • Jackson, Mississippi
Saint Wins National Debate Title
St. Andrew’s Episcopal School rising senior Ishan Bhatt won the 2018 National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament, naming him the top high school Lincoln-Douglas debater in the United States.
On June 22, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School rising senior Ishan Bhatt won the 2018 National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament, naming him the top high school Lincoln-Douglas debater in the United States.
“I don’t think it’s really sunk in,” said Bhatt of his accomplishment. “But if I try to put it in words, I’d say that this win means getting to reap what we’ve been sowing for almost every day of the last three years. I feel honored to be able to represent St. Andrew’s.”
The St. Andrew’s speech and debate team was founded in 1996 by Dr. Randy Patterson, who served as director until his retirement in 2010. For his efforts, Patterson was enshrined in the NSDA Hall of Fame in 2014.
Darin Maier took over the program in 2010. Under his tenure, the team has practically doubled in size. Fifty-five students have competed with the St. Andrew’s squad, which is also the number of current students who have earned membership in the NSDA – approximately one of every six students in St. Andrew’s Upper School.
Bhatt’s own speech and debate journey began at a Middle School retreat, where he was placed in a group with debate coach Jharick Shields and several speech and debate students. “It was their conversations about speech and debate that really got me interested,” reflects Bhatt. “I was super glad Mr. Shields agreed to meet with me during study halls and breaks to teach me the basics and get me started going to tournaments. From there, working on debate has taken up the majority of my time, and I haven’t looked back.”
Practicing for nearly five to six hours a day has propelled Bhatt toward a number of victories, including: double octofinals (round of 32) in Lincoln-Douglas Debate at the 2017 Kentucky Tournament of Champions (KTOC); semifinals of Lincoln-Douglas Debate at the 2017 National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) Grand Nationals; advancing to Round 10 of Lincoln-Douglas Debate at the 2017 NSDA Nationals; sixth place in Lincoln-Douglas Debate at the 2016 NSDA Nationals.
“Ishan and I have been working really hard for the past five years trying to break through on the national circuit,” said Shields. “One thing that is pretty clear about speech and debate championships, they tend to go to the same schools. We knew that in order for us to make it to the ‘promised land’ we would have to beat programs that utilize way more resources than we have. To be able to do that is truly gratifying, and I couldn’t be prouder of Ishan and his hard work.”
While winning the national speech and debate title is an astounding and noteworthy achievement, it is not as easily recognizable as, say, an athletics title.
“This activity isn’t like baseball, where we could watch the MHSAA state championship at Trustmark Park or on Mississippi Public Broadcasting and know that when St. Andrew’s scored a run or retired a North Pontotoc player, that was good for us,” explained Maier. “Speech and debate doesn’t really operate that way, so it can be hard to get people to understand what exactly we do.”
Maier added that – similar to a baseball title – a championship is not dependent on one student. Rather, it is a team effort that, over years of commitment and work, takes them to the top. Bhatt winning the 2018 NSDA National Tournament speaks volumes about the strength of the St. Andrew’s program.
“The speech and debate community in Mississippi and surrounding states already knew of the quality of our program, so this title extends the reach of that reputation,” added Maier. “But I think the real value of this win is that it builds on a great run Mississippi has had in this activity in recent years – Hattiesburg won both NSDA and the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions in Duo Interpretation last year, and Desoto Central won Public Forum Debate at the National Catholic Forensic League’s Grand Nationals in 2017. That’s four national championships in the last two years and doesn’t even begin to count all the other elimination round qualifiers St. Andrew’s and Mississippi have had at these contests. Maybe there are some things that Mississippi may struggle with, but speech and debate isn’t one of them.”
While the wins and titles point out the program’s success to the rest of the world, the skills that students develop behind the scenes are truly invaluable.
“It’s really helped me do almost everything better,” Bhatt said. “Specifically, I think it really helps develop critical thinking and analysis. It makes me finding problems, gaps, and solutions incredibly easy and gives you the ability to make connections really intuitively. I use things I’ve learned from debate in almost every area of my life. For school, almost every paper or assignment I’ve written, I applied something I’ve learned from debate. I honestly think debate has taught me more than, literally, anything else.”
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Foundations — Grade 12 • Jackson, Mississippi