Newtown High School (NHS) Debate Team members earned trophies and placed in the top five teams and speakers for their performance at a Connecticut Debate Association (CDA) tournament on Saturday, November 8.

The team attended the monthly CDA tournament at Pomperaug High School in Southbury, where attendees debated on the topic, “This House would require social media algorithms to expose users to a diversity of political viewpoints.”

CDA is the State’s premiere high school debate league and has regularly held competitions for over thirty years, according to the group’s website.

For the November tournament, participants in both novice and varsity levels competed in four rounds. Newtown had five debaters attend the Pomperaug High School tournament.

NHS senior Sonya Feder and junior Atley Ammerman were one of the varsity teams, while junior Henry Lynch, who went as a singleton and was paired with another singleton from Fitch High School, was in the other varsity team. NHS Junior George Tzakas and freshman Kenneth Miller were the school’s novice team.

Competing NHS Debate Team members rigorously prepared for the tournament, just as they had for the several others held throughout the school year.

When The Newtown Bee spoke to the team last month, as they reflected on their performance at the Yale Invitational High School Tournament the month prior, Feder said she and the others spent several hours a week preparing for the tournament.

Not only would they work on it during their after-school meetings, Feder said they would continue working on it once they went home. Eventually, they started meeting over the weekends to work on their preparations even more.

While that was just for one international level tournament, NHS Debate Team also competes in statewide tournaments hosted by CDA. For these tournaments, competing teams receive the debate topic on arrival, with only an hour to write a case based on a 12-page brief provided by tournament officials.

Competing in any tournament, Feder said, requires a lot of patience, preparation, and teamwork.

Their hard work paid off, as Feder and Ammerman placed fifth out of 24 in the Varsity Teams category. Feder also placed fifth out of 48 in the Varsity Speakers category, designated for individual varsity speakers.

As a result, Feder said their partnership qualified for the State finals, which will take place in March of next year.

This will be the first time since 2012 that NHS has competed in the State finals for debate.

“We are proud of the effort we have put in over the last few years for debate, and having the opportunity to compete in state finals,” Feder said. “Representing Newtown for the first time in many years is a chance we’re proud to have earned.”

Beyond representing Newtown, Feder said she is very excited for the opportunity to compete at the State level, calling it “a highlight of the hard work and dedication” she has put into debate.

“Having been a part of the debate team for nearly three years, participating in State finals feels like a culmination of the growth and development I’ve experienced as a debater,” Feder explained.

Ammerman also had a great time at the tournament. While he felt the topic was confusing at first, Ammerman said he thoroughly enjoyed the topic and the amount of good information and statistics that backed both sides of the argument.

“I believe that both sides were rather equal in points, so it really came down to lines of reasoning, and how well [ourselves] and our opponents understood the complexities of the argument,” Ammerman said.

Ammerman added that he is looking forward to the CDA tournaments in the coming months, and is especially excited for the State finals at the end of the year.

“After debating from the start of freshman year, it is very rewarding to qualify for states, for the countless hours of dedication I have spent on debate,” Ammerman said.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.