The St. Mary’s debate team has wrapped another successful season, placing first overall in the Kanto Plains after many years of coming short of first place. The JV debate team recently traveled to K. International School Tokyo to compete in the KPASS JV Debate competition. The JV team was accompanied by the coaches, Mr. Dixon and Mr. Pettit, along with the Varsity team, who competed in the KPASS Varsity debate competition on Wednesday, February 6. The JV and varsity teams were as follows: JV1(Amon(’27), Naoaki(’28), and Tony(’28)), JV2(Johnny(’28), SJ(’27), and Louis(’28)), JV3(Ireneaus(’27), Aadi(’27), and Joshua(’27)), Varsity A(Jimin(’25), Kano(’25), and James(’25)), Varsity B(Dominic F.(’25), Ryunnosuke(’25), and Keito F(’25), Varsity C(Masanori(’25), Kai(’26), and Yuu(’26)), Varsity 4(Abi(’26), Dominic M(’26), and Michal(’26)).
The JV team schedule for round 1 was as follows: SMIS 1 against SIS 1, SMIS 2 against ASIJ 2, SMIS 3 against KIST 3, and SMIS 4 against ASIJ 5. For round 2, SMIS 1 against KIST 2, SMIS 2 against ISSH 1, SMIS 3 against TIS 1, and SMIS 4 against ASIJ 4. For the JV tournament, SMIS 3’s second speaker Aadi Teckchandani won the second speaker award.
The varsity team schedule for round 1 was as follows: SMIS A against ASIJ A, SMIS B against TIS A, and SMIS C against KIST B. Round 2 was as follows: SMIS A against KIST A, SMIS B against SIS A, SMIS C against ISSH B, and ISSH C against SMIS 4. Round 3(impromptu round) was as follows: SMIS A against ISSH A, SMIS B against ASIJ B, SMIS C against ISSH C, and SMIS 4 against KIST C. For the Varsity tournament, SMIS A’s Jimin and Kano each received the first and second speaker awards, while SMIS C’s Yuu received the third. Ultimately, the St. Mary’s JV and Varsity debate teams finished the season, placing first in Kanto Plains, winning 15 out of 18 rounds. We bid farewell to the seniors, Jimin, Kano, James, Dominic F, Ryunnosuke, Keito F, and Masanori as they finished the season. As coaches, Mr. Dixon and Mr. Pettit state, “We extend our heartfelt best wishes to our seniors as they transition to college and beyond—your guidance and encouragement will leave a lasting impact on our team.”
