Arrow Debaters Place 2nd at the Loomis Chaffee Invitational

On Sunday, February 15, 2026, nine members of the St. Sebastian's Debate Team participated in the Loomis Chaffee School Invitational Debate Tournament.

This was a Cross-Examination Tournament on the following topic:

"Resolved: That the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) should adopt formal enforcement mechanisms to censure, sanction, suspend or expel member states whose actions violate NATO's core principles or substantially undermine alliance cohesion or collective security objectives." 

When they arrive at the Tournament on the morning of the Debate, all debaters receive a packet of materials with documents related to the resolution. They have no knowledge of the resolution or these documents prior to their arrival at the Debate. Teams then have one hour to read all of the documents and prepare their cases. 

This was a "switch-side" tournament, so all of our students were required to debate on both the affirmative and negative sides of the resolution for three rounds in the Advanced and Novice Divisions.

Our Novice Team consisted of Ronuk Dabas ’30, Christian Kuo ’29, Benjie Perlman ’31, and Aarin Vasi ’31. Ben Osunsanya ’26 served as a judge in the Novice Division.

Our Advanced Team consisted of Ro Dabas ’27, Anthony Marcucci ’27, Victor Layevsky ’28 and John Lynch ’27. 

Congratulations to Ro Dabas and Anthony Marcucci who earned 2nd Place Advanced Team honors out of 16 teams and 32 debaters competing at the Advanced level.

The following Independent Schools competed in the Tournament:

Buckingham, Browne, and Nichols School
Choate Rosemary Hall
Deerfield Academy
Loomis Chaffee School
Northfield Mt. Hermon School
St. Paul's School
St. Sebastian's School