No debate — these Tierra Linda Middle School students win big

World Schools is a debate format with three to five speakers per team that has both prepared and impromptu topics. The Tierra Linda team participating in this event included recently graduated eighth graders Calvin Massey, Talia Simon, Neilson Chien and Alina Robinson. 

The success is a first for both the middle school program and De, who said he knew he had “something special” with this group. However, it wasn’t always a guarantee. 

Just last fall, Robinson, former debate captain and rising freshman at Carlmont High School, would have said World Schools was her least favorite event after coming out of two tournaments with losing records.

“Four months later, she’s a national champion,” De said. “Sometimes you have to lose a little bit to win and I think that’s a great life lesson for them to learn. You may not be perfect at it right away, but if you stick with it, and you work hard, the results will follow.” 

Self-driven curiosity is what has made this particular group of middle schoolers notable, De said. Beyond striving for success, he said they’re really excited about learning. 

“The focus isn’t as much on getting into college and what their college application is going to look like,” De said. “Whenever they go to a tournament, their eyes light up and I just love seeing that energy out of them.” 

In preparing for these tournaments, students are taught about cross examinations, strong questioning, how to format rebuttals, memorization and more. But beyond the technical skills honed for speech and debate, De said these students are learning early on how to communicate effectively. 

“I think they’re gaining really valuable skills in terms of public speaking, in terms of being advocates for themselves, in terms of finding their voice,” he said. 

Robinson said she has noticed her confidence grow since she joined just two years ago. 

“It didn’t really come from winning,” she said. “I mean, that definitely helped, but it mostly came from me putting in the work and seeing the results of how I communicate and how I speak.”

In addition to the World Schools debate team winning, Robinson also won the top speaker award at Nationals. Still, she doesn’t place the value on shiny trophies. 

After witnessing her own growth as a debater in the past year, and struggling to enjoy events after losing, she now can see it’s more important to focus on simply improving. 

“Back then, I think we packed a lot of value based on if we did well at the tournament,” she said. “Now, in retrospect and looking back, it doesn’t really matter. You can also do better.” 

To get better, Robinson would wake up extra early before school every day to practice and study stylistic choices of past debate winners. She credits this dedication to her success at Nationals. 

In addition to her dedication, Robinson has noticed she’s grown more curious since she joined the team. 

“I was just in my own bubble, I didn’t really want to learn new stuff,” Robinson said, reflecting on when she was entering middle school. 

Now, heading into high school, she’s sure speech and debate will be a big part of the rest of her educational journey. 

“I’ve been introduced to a lot of new ideas, looking at how laws being implemented affect me, what the thought processes are behind these laws, what the pros and cons are,” Robinson said. “I’ve regained my spark back for learning.” 

Though this debate team was undoubtedly unique, De said he looks forward to coming students he can work with, who will likely look up to the Class of 2024. 

“The good thing is that now they’re going to serve as inspiration for every class I have after this,” De said. “Our class of 2025 is really, really talented and I want them to look at this experience, and not necessarily compare themselves to it, but think that this is what’s possible.”