Three Rye High School students have won prestigious awards in national debate tournaments this year — only 2 1/2 years after the school started its speech and debate club.
The team was launched in the fall of 2022 after Kiran Gounden-Kobes, then a sophomore, and Liv MacNamara, then a freshman, saw an extracurricular gap and, with the help of English teacher David Hartman, stepped in.
They had initially made separate efforts to start the club, but it was only after Hartman connected the pair that their efforts began to pay off.
Getting the club off the ground wasn’t easy, and took a year. They attended meetings, sent emails, and finally got the club up and running.
“Speech and debate allows students to find their voice while developing critical thinking skills through inquiry, self-expression, and rhetoric,” said Gounden-Kobes. “It took great effort and time to get the club on its feet, but in that process, we really created a special team.”
Gounden-Kobes helps students prepare for upcoming competitions and develop their skills through consistent practice, and he leads them toward competitive success and personal growth. His methodology involves meticulous research and comprehensive strategizing.
MacNamara uses wisdom gained from her acting experience to bring alive the less technical aspects of speech and debate. She finds that, as in theater, speech competitions “have almost an intimate feel.” She added, “It’s not about winning an argument, it’s about telling an engaging story and doing it in the best possible way.”
The club launched in 2023, a few people joined and the team slowly grew.
“This year our team grew a lot and we were able to attend a ton of competitions,” MacNamara said. In only the team’s second school year as an official club, several members have qualified for national and international competitions by winning and placing high at several significant events.
At this year’s Stanford Invitationals, Nicolas Allard won second place in informative speaking, and Charlotte Brown won second place in novice original oratory. “It felt like my chest had exploded,” Brown said of winnng. “I was brand new, on the younger side, and pretty sure my competitors were going to crush me.”
“The Stanford Invitationals were grueling for my first competition,” Allard said. “Two full days of speaking and hoping I’d advance to the next round again and again …. I poured a lot of effort and soul into writing my informative speech and created a piece that I really wanted to do justice when the time came to present.”
Allard and Brown both qualified for the prestigious National Speech and Debate Tournament and will be flying to Des Moines, Iowa, this summer to compete with over 7,000 other students.
At the USA Forensic Olympiad, Brown came in first for original oratory, and Gounden-Kobes came in first in the Lincoln-Douglas debate. The pair kept their momentum through the USAFO National Tournament, where they both were declared national winners.
Following their strong performances, Gounden-Kobes and Brown have been invited to compete on behalf of the U.S. at the International Olympiad in Forensics.
“I don’t think I ever got used to it,” Brown said of her continued success. “If you told me … last September that I’d be representing team USA in the International Olympiad in forensics, I would’ve told you to take a hike.”
“These accomplishments show just how far the team has come and how much potential and importance speech and debate has in Rye,” said Gounden-Kobes.
He’s planning to attend the University of Chicago in the fall, leaving what he calls “a lively community of passionate and curious students” in the hands of MacNamara and current freshman Sahil Velamoor, who will be the new president of the debate team. Gounden-Kobes calls the team’s achievements “absolutely exceptional” and hopes the club will continue to flourish in his absence.
