By: Gaurika Gupta; Journalism 1 Feature
Freshman Ira Mutta made the bold and courageous choice to compete in a debate tournament on October 6, 2023. While this may have been an ordinary choice for a high schooler, Ira decided to take this step as a freshman without any prior experience in competitive debating. She was aware that she would be competing against some debaters who were Seniors and had more than three years of experience, yet she met them head-on.
Ira had been trained by Ms. Stuart, the debate coach, on how to perform her best at the debate category called Public Forum. She was taught how to counter arguments made by her competitor and how to present strong claims to the judge. She put in weeks of hard work to prepare for this event.
The tournament on October 6 was held at Dulles High School. Ira had gone into the tournament with an intention of learning and with only the hopes of winning. However, those hopes quickly turned into manifestation as Ira secured third place at her first ever tournament.
“I was stunned by the fact that I did so well in my first tournament,” Ira said. “I never thought that it could happen. I knew I wasn’t bad at debate, but I did not think I was anywhere as good as the experienced competitors.”
Ira had to debate 7 competitors who had been participating and winning debate tournaments for years. Each round that she won, came as a surprise to her.
“Some of the people were really experienced since they have been debating for years, whereas it was just the first time for me,” Ira said. “I was nerve wrecked because I did not know how I could win against people with so much experience.”
After her first round at this tournament, Ira had walked out of the judging room devastated, convinced that she would not make it past her first round. Her competitor had been an experienced Junior who had competed in several tournaments before and Ira did not believe her arguments had been enough for her to had won that round.
“She had been heartbroken,” Freshman Nalika Nanasaid, Ira’s close friend who had accompanied her to the tournament. “She was completely convinced that she had no chance to make it past the first round and that she had disappointed herself and Ms. Stuart.”
However, despite her doubts, Ira made it past the first round and ultimately competed in the semi-final. While securing the third place at her first tournament might have been a shock to Ira, her debate coach, Ms. Stuart, had complete faith in her student’s debate skills since the beginning.
“I wasn’t surprised when she came third just in her first time debating, she’s really smart,” Ms. Stuart said. “People should watch out for her.”
Ira now plans to make her way up to Varsity debate with Ms. Stuart’s guidance, it’s going to be an interesting journey to see her grow as a debater.
