One-hundred and sixty-five of the most skilled debaters and public speakers from 17 different countries gathered at The World’s Individual Debating & Public Speaking Championship in Bristol, England. They competed in four events: prepared speech, interpretive reading, impromptu speaking and debate. Among them were Co-presidents of Speech and Debate Club Ahna Jung ’27 and Salar Sekhavat ’26, representing both the Upper School community and the United States. Ahna was a debate semifinalist, while Salar earned the title of After Dinner Speech champion. Debate Club Advisor and English Teacher Talayah Hudson attended with the school’s team as well.
Salar felt confident going into the tournament.
“Most of my preparations happened in the week leading up to the competition, partly due to my late qualification,” he said. “So I did prepare less than last year. Despite this, I actually felt very solid in the end. I had a speech and interpretive reading that I loved.”
Speech and debate has helped Salar develop skills he can use outside of competitions.
“Speech and debate has helped me with analytical thinking and the ability to break things down intellectually, especially with other people,” he said. “I learned a lot of facts from debate, but it’s also a toolset I can apply to the rest of my life to break problems down and figure out what’s going on around me.”
Ahna was excited to partake in the tournament and felt grateful for the opportunity.
“BB&N has so many strong debaters and strong speakers,” she said. “I felt very proud of being able to represent BB&N at the world level and of all of my debate teammates back at BB&N, as well.”
Although time-consuming, Ahna similarly finds speech and debate rewarding.
“I try to prepare my speeches a good bit ahead of time so I can have time to do both, but it’s definitely hard,” she said. “Speaking is such an important skill in all facets of life. Debate has helped me hone that skill and helped me be a little bit more confident in my public speaking.”
Advisor Talayah Hudson said these skills can be applied in the classroom.
“Argumentation, logic and rhetoric are skills that translate very obviously into writing and into discussions, as well as your ability to critically think,” she said. “Debate also allows students to put what they have learned in their humanities or even science-based classes into a real-world context.”
Ms. Hudson is proud of Ahna and Salar for their consistent hard work and commitment.
“I’ve been able to see Ahna and Salar grow into confident public speakers, effective leaders and orators,” she said. “Salar and Ahna are truly dedicated to the game of Speech and Debate.”
Their success has also impacted younger Speech and Debate Club members. Rishaan Chowdhury ’29 said seeing Salar and Ahna compete is motivating.
“Having teammates who compete at such a high level is really cool,” he said. “It’s rare to have such talented teammates, and they really improve the overall skill level of the team.”
