The Asbury Park High School Debate team competed in the First NYC Urban Debate League Policy Tournament of the 2019-2020 season and APHS placed 6th overall. Several debaters also received top awards in the tournament. Jasmin Carter placed 16th as top speaker. In addition, the debate team of Jasmin Carter and Jaoine Britt-Murray broke with a record of 2-0 and placed 17th. The APHS Great Debaters Decie Vasquez, Lucero Ruiz, Christlie Lavarin, and Meliza Garcia are debating in the Advanced Debate League and received top awards. The team of Christlie and Lucero placed 20th and the team of Decie and Meliza placed 14th.
As the Great Debaters continue to excel in the highly competitive world of debate, they are looking forward to a challenging season in an advanced division and a growing team. The current resolution is:
Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce Direct Commercial Sales and/or Foreign Military Sales of arms from the United States. The partnership between Monmouth University and Asbury Park High School has successfully maintained a rigorous debate platform where the debaters learn civics, political science, history, and philosophy while teaching them the important skills of critical thinking, listening, research, reading, and writing.
The team is co-coached by Asbury Park English teacher Ms. Christine DeMarsico and Monmouth University Associate Professor of Political Science Dr. Joseph Patten. The team is also assisted by Kaityln Allsopp, Mayahna Murphy, and Gaby Garcia.
The 2019-2020 APHS Great Debaters are:
Junior Coach, E’Niah Preston, Captains, Decie Vasquez, Lucero Ruiz, Christlie Lavarin and Meliza Garcia; Debaters, Jasmin Carter, Jaione Britt-Murray, Serge Nelson, Karen Carrasco, Abigail Contreras, Jean Enelus, Jennifer Cruz Hernandez, Angeles Lazo Garcia, Yossin Vasquez, Naijah Wallace, Zydeja Reeves, Ana Vasquez, Luis Ramos-Aparicio, TyAsia Nealy and Damonique Dawson. The APHS Great Debaters will next compete on November 23, 2019 in The Bronx.