High school students were back at Dutchess Community College (DCC) to participate in the Fall/Winter Dutchess BOCES Debate, after two years without in-person debates due to COVID-19.
The students, representing Dover and Wappingers school districts, came ready to debate hot button topics such as prohibiting the sale of gas-powered cars by 2040 and the dangers of genetically modified organisms.
John Jay students emerged victorious in both the top teams and top speakers categories. Simal Patel, Alexandra Diminico and Naflah Mohammed won first place in the top five teams, while Rylee Hatch was top speaker.
Educational Resources Coordinator Audrey Roettgers Wood works with DCC Speech Professor Margeaux Lippman to coordinate and facilitate the debates. Some years, as many as five high schools participated.
“We are always looking to expand participation,” Wood said.
Debates consist of two teams of three students each. The “Government” defends a position and the “Opposition” challenges it. Each student has five minutes to speak and DCC staff members, who served as judges, reviewed their presentations.
Dover junior Joshua Montero was excited to participate and hoped to perform well. He spent many hours during his free periods preparing for the debate.
“If I perform well, it might boost my confidence,” Montero said. “We’ve only done one debate online, so I think this is good practice.”
DCC President Dr. Peter Jordan stopped by each classroom to wish the students good luck as they prepared for debates.
Fall 2019 marked the last time some of the students debated in person and Wood found they were excited to return to business as usual.
“Students were invested and engaged in their debates and demonstrated their skill and preparation,” Wood said. “Overall, it was an awesome event.”
The debate program offers high school students and their advisors comprehensive training in debate theory and practice with emphasis placed on the development and exercise of critical thinking, information literacy, persuasive technique and public speaking skills. This program has been offered by BOCES’ Educational Resources since 2018. 
DEBATE RESULTS
Top 5 Teams:
- John Jay: Simal Patel, Alexandra Diminico and Naflah Mohammed
- Dover: Alyssa Sasse, Josh Montero and Callie Audia
- John Jay: Rylee Hatch, Harshitha Talasila and Ayushi Pandya
- John Jay: Derek Diehl, Shreya Gupta and Aileen Leahy
- John Jay: Emerald Anderson, J’kaia Reynolds and Kay Moe
Top 10 Speakers:
- Rylee Hatch (John Jay)
- Simal Patel (John Jay)
- Aileen Leahy (John Jay)
- Josh Montero (Dover)
- Naflah Mohammed (John Jay)
- Emerald Anderson (John Jay)
- Ayushi Pandya (John Jay)
- Callie Audia (Dover)
- Mackenzie Courtien (Dover)
- Elaine Tamboia (Dover)