More than 75 academic, artistic, social, cultural, and athletics clubs and organizations at Loomis Chaffee offer students many opportunities to meet people and get involved in the school community. This article spotlights the Debate Society.

The longtime coach of the program, Curt Robison, is in his 45th year with the Debate Society. He worked at Deerfield Academy for three years just out of college before going to graduate school at Brown University for two years. He started as a teacher at Loomis in 1981 and began the debate program when he arrived.

Curt on what debate offers: “Debate allows such a natural platform for discussing almost any topic of interest with the very bright and curious students who are attracted to the activity. We discuss many points of view on key issues of the day, whether they are political, economic, social, educational, or involving international relations.”

Curt on what debate can teach someone: “I hope that over the years I’ve helped students to think carefully and logically on a wide range of topics and then helped develop them into people who could become persuasive advocates for positions that are important to them. I also believe that it helps develop a more open attitude in students where they can recognize that there are compelling arguments that can be found in multiple perspectives on an issue. In fact, I think that, in a sense, one earns the right to hold very strong convictions on a controversial issue only after seriously considering and trying earnestly to articulate the best possible argument for the opposing point of view.”

Sophomore Vicky Jain on what debate has done for her: “I would say the most important thing I’ve learned with debate is to stay away from absolutes and think in terms of tradeoffs. For example, it used be ‘good versus bad’ and now it’s more of ‘in which situation, under which framework, or at what cost?’ I feel living in this world one needs to be open-minded. Otherwise, the extremes get too extreme, and we’ll forget what compromise is. Before debate (which I joined my freshman year), I used to be a wallflower. Debate forced me out of my shell and introduced me to the value of speaking and listening — many people often omit the ‘listen’ part, but without it, speaking would be worthless. And on that same point, being open-minded doesn’t mean being indecisive, but rather [being] willing to hear another perspective.”

A busy winter: On February 15, Loomis Chaffee hosted its 45th annual debate tournament as part of the Debating Association of New England Independent Schools (DANEIS). The Loomis tournament attracts schools from around New England. Junior Calvin Weng and freshman Ethan D’Auria assisted with the running of the tournament this year while 12 LC debaters compiled a record of 13 wins and five losses. Loomis won six out of the 18 awards and had the highest winning percentage of all schools present. Later, at the prestigious annual Yale Osterweis Debate Tournament, hosted by the Yale Debate Association and judged by advanced Yale debaters, Loomis won seven awards. Most notably, juniors Eunice Lee and Tiger Song captured the first-place advanced team award with a unanimous decision from a panel of five judges. Part of Eunice and Tiger’s argument included a defense of the significance of emotional response in shaping important aspects of the human experience, connecting to the school’s theme for the year, “What Does It Mean To Be Human?” Eunice and Tiger both also earned individual speaker awards in the advanced division. Competing in eight tournaments throughout the winter term, LC debaters won more than 25 individual and team awards.