On Saturday, December 14, 2024, 227 middle school debaters from 14 schools competed in the CT Middle School Debate League’s tournament. They debated the motion: This House believes that schools should ban smart phones and watches only during instructional time, instead of from bell-to-bell.

Sixty-six high school debaters and parents volunteered as judges, making the day possible.

Results may be accessed on Tabroom under Results for CTMSDLDec14.

Twelve teams from Middlebrook in Wilton, Smith in Glastonbury, Nathan Hale in Norwalk, Westfield Academy in West Hartford, Stamford schools, and Ridgefield schools won all 3 of their rounds.

Hillary Ho from Dolan Middle School in Stamford and Simone Kaur from Timothy Edwards Middle School in South Windsor were the highest scoring speakers of the day.

Special thanks go to our indefatigable judges and coaches, and especially Harvey Catlin from Seymour, Cathy Emerick from Bethel, and Everett Rutan.

The CTMSDL’s next tournament will be held at Timothy Edwards Middle School in South Windsor on February 8, 2025. The topic will be: This House believes that carbon capture is essential to fighting climate change.