Debate Kicks Off the Year with an Ice Cream Social
Near the end of the social, debaters take a group photo together. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.
Giving ice cream to the students at the social, Debate Secretary Pranav Kulkarni ’20 puts a scoop of ice cream in a bowl. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.
Rohan Reddy ’22 offers chocolate syrup to Priyanka Chandrasekar ’23 at the debate ice cream social.
Mr. Wang talks to Alana Spaeth ’21 while opening a tub of ice cream.
Mohit Lele ’21 enjoys a popsicle, who were provided to those who are lactose-intolerant.
Getting another bowl of ice cream, Kevin Xiao ’23 takes a scoop from the container. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.
Friends and comrades join together for a chilly snack on a hot Texas day. Anaita Merchant ’20, Rehana Shaik ’20, and Rishob Dasgupta ’20 enjoy each other’s company.
Throughout their conversation, Akhila Keeranoor ’20 and juniors Mika Freund, Sophia Wang, and Shawn Hatcher eat their ice cream. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.
As she eats a popsicle, Erith Won ’22 talks to another student. Photo courtesy of WHS Speech and Debate.
Preparing along with the other volunteers, Dylan Dong ’20 helps pre-scoop the ice cream into the bowls.
Vishal Narra ’22 chooses a bowl of ice cream to pick up from the table.
To encourage more bonding within the debate community, the Speech and Debate team organized an ice cream social in the cafeteria on Thursday, Sep. 5. The novice and returning debaters conversed with each other and enjoyed ice cream, selecting from various flavors and toppings.
“The social is to have a nice way to communicate with the freshmen for the first time because most of them haven’t talked to debaters,” Student Council Representative Ananth Kumar ‘20 said. “So [here], they can see what the debate community is like and also learn a little bit more about the events that they might not [have been] able to earlier.”
The returning debaters went around to share their experiences in tournaments and promote their form of debate, so that the novice debaters have more insight in the debate community.
“I was looking forward to talking to different novice instructors about the different types of debate,” Wesley Yeung ‘23 said. “They were really helpful and they made me want to do Lincoln-Douglas debate more.”
The officers had a prior meeting to discuss the details, and they decided to buy an impressive 12 tubs of ice cream, with four flavors and popsicles for those who are lactose intolerant.
“This year, we got toppings for ice cream, which is something small, but exciting,” Officer Alice Zhang ‘20 said.
During the meeting, the officers assigned duties to people, such as scooping ice cream, distributing the toppings, and cleaning up.
“Our group is just a lot bigger than last year’s,” Zhang said. “We changed our system where rather than having people come up with bowls and ask for specific flavors of ice cream, we just pre-scooped everything. I think that helped make it a lot smoother.”
Overall, the debaters were able to build essential relationships within the community in preparation for their future tournaments.
“I was so glad I went because I got to meet all the new people who told me more about debate,” Alicia Lin ‘23 said. “The social was a great start to my debate career.”
This is my first year on press and I’m really excited to be part of this team! When I’m not at school, you can find me chilling on the couch, watching...
