May 30, 2023 At 01:55 PM EDT
Erick Zaragoza, a high school senior from San Jose, California, started debate "on a whim" during the COVID-19 pandemic.
When he entered Andrew P. Hill High School, Zaragoza's brother told him to befriend a teacher who happened to be the debate coach. He joined the team his sophomore year looking for an extracurricular during the time of remote learning.
"I didn't really understand the format, but I was getting encouraged to go to debate," Zaragoza said. "The more I was participating, it developed into a feeling of competitiveness and atmosphere that I hadn't really seen outside of sports, which was exciting."
Slowly, Zaragoza started to understand the intricate world of policy debate. Once he mastered the format, it got even more enjoyable for him.
Zaragoza, who is serving his second consecutive term as debate club president, displays the "passion for learning" that the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues (NAUDL) touts in its vision statement. That statement also describes the nonprofit organization's goal of "preparing the next generation to lead and succeed" via "critical thinking, communication and collaboration skills."
Zaragoza is one of the initial eight NAUDL participants featured on Newsweek's Mightier hub, which aims to highlight good-faith discussion through coverage of high school debate. He and other students from Denver and Washington, D.C., recently attended an event at the Newsweek office in New York City where they held a demonstration debate covering topics including immigration, artificial intelligence and affirmative action.
Getting to this point was not easy. Zaragoza's love for debate grew during a difficult time for his team, which was so small that he had to be paired with a student from another school at a novice tournament his sophomore year.
In his junior year, Zaragoza was determined to grow the debate club. Recruiting new members, though, proved difficult as students were already experiencing a huge shift coming out of the pandemic.
Rolland Janairo, the executive director of the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League (SVUDL), of which Zaragoza is a member, said the now-senior was "instrumental" in establishing the newly revitalized debate team.
"He was constantly grinding. He was constantly presenting in classrooms, talking about what debate was, about the skills that he was building," he said.
The club has now grown "multifold," Janairo said, with Zaragoza as the veteran helping coach younger debaters.
And it wasn't just the pandemic that impacted involvement in debate at Zaragoza's school. Andrew P. Hill is a Title 1 public school, meaning a high percentage of the students are from low-income families. Zaragoza, who is a first-generation American himself, explained that finding a time to meet after school was difficult, as many students take long commutes home on the bus or have to take care of their younger siblings.
Thankfully, SVUDL provides resources like laptops and covers many costs to allow these students from underserved areas to travel to weekend tournaments.
"I think they do a tremendous job of trying to equalize the playing field as much as possible," Zaragoza said.
While the students that make up the team have a range of academic interests, Zaragoza has found that the common thread between them is a passion for community activism.
"People tend to [debate] because they're interested in issues that not only affect them but their whole community," he said. "I think the first step in being an advocate for your community is being able to express your opinions and give some substance to your point of view. And debate is a great way to start understanding how to format that argument."
Before joining debate, Zaragoza adhered to the adage that politics is never discussed at the metaphoric dinner table.
"I would be very shy about sharing any opinions," he said. But in debate, "you have to have [opinions] and you have to be able to justify them."
In an age when critical issues facing youth are plentiful and information can be accessed immediately, Zaragoza believes argumentation should be part of all high school curricula.
"It would be great to have a population of kids and young adults that are able to critically think about whatever information is put in front of them," he said.
Despite it being a competitive activity, for Zaragoza, debate is about more than just winning rounds. And to hear him tell it, the same is true of many of his peers. Students at Urban Debate tournaments are never "really upset at a loss," he said. Broadly speaking, debaters are a community of people who want to learn and see a real change in their world, as evidenced by the camaraderie between rounds at the recent Urban Debate championship tournament in Dallas.
Walking into most rounds, Zaragoza worries whether he is as prepared as the other team.
"But there are some rounds where you walk into the room and you make friends with your opponents before the judge even gets there," he said. "Those rounds are the best just because you're forming a genuine connection with someone else."
This is something Janairo saw firsthand while he was judging a round at one of the early tournaments this past school year. Zaragoza was debating "maverick"—taking on a team of two by himself—and he won the round.
"Before I submitted my results, [Zaragoza] started giving feedback and helping the other team," Janairo recalled. "He's like, 'Listen, the next time you come across a case like mine, here's how you can rip it apart.'"
"For him to take the time to do that really speaks to his character and his integrity," Janairo added. "I almost started crying in that moment because this is exactly why we do what we do. He doesn't really care that he got the win. It was more of, 'How can I help these kids who are younger than me, who are less experienced than me, do better the next time?'"
Next year, Zaragoza will continue his education at Princeton University, for which he received a QuestBridge scholarship covering full tuition costs. He plans to study mechanical and aerospace engineering.
While he won't be debating in college, he is grateful for the unique perspective and experience he will bring to his classes.
"There's this discrepancy that everyone's been talking to me about, at least everyone in the engineering field, about how typically engineers can't write," he said. "I think it's really important to be able to develop your argument—you're quite literally trying to explain why this thing you're doing is going to be helpful for the community or why it's going to work in the first place."
But Zaragoza is not done with debate yet. He plans to continue volunteering for NAUDL and has already been in touch with the Washington Urban Debate League about helping with events.
"I recognize the work that [Urban Debate leagues] have done for me," he said, "and I can only hope to pass that forward."
