In a recent interview, Emily Ni explains how she started debate and utilized her skills as an incredible debater to make the prestigious Team Canada Debate!

Introduction of Emily
Emily Ni is a rising senior at Crofton House who is an active debater and public speaker. Her first taste of debate was in grade six, where her mom forced her to attend a debate summer camp. After a break, she started debating in grade nine and fully committed herself to the activity in grade ten. Emily Ni also enjoys attending multiple Model UN conferences and is an eloquent public speaker who has competed at the Worlds Individual Public Speaking Competition with contestants from across the world.

A fun fact about Emily Ni is that she really likes weighted blankets; she believes that the weighted blanket is the greatest invention created.

What Do You Do?
“Think of debating as glorified structured arguing. Debate often depends on the style of debate you are learning. For example, some debates are prepared beforehand where students are able to do research and write their speeches before the tournament begins. In other cases, debaters are given a set amount of time (e.g., 15 minutes ~ 60 minutes) to prepare cases on their feet without online research”.

She explains that debating requires a large amount of talking and being able to draw reasoning and illustrations to help you persuade other individuals, especially judges, to believe in your claims. There are many different components of debate such as delivering constructive material, reconstruction, and refutation.

Emily notes, “my favorite part of debate is definitely refutation where you get to prove why the other team is wrong.”

What Made You Start Debate?
“This is a complicated question. I had my first taste of debate in grade six where my mom wanted me to have an outlet for being a very talkative child. I think she also saw the value of being able to speak eloquently as a second generation immigrant”.

As for the active decision to join debate club, Emily explains—while laughing—that it had a bit to do with peer pressure.

“I had a lot of friends who did debate who told me to come and join them. I had done Model UN in grade eight, and many people in the Model UN club also did debate. So, I was constantly told to try out debate so when I found the time, I decided to give it a try.”

Overall, it was a combination of “subtle” peer pressure and a desire to become a more confident and eloquent speaker that Emily decided to try out debate.

Why Do You Love Debating?
“This is gonna be a long answer so get ready!”

There are a couple of reasons why Emily loves debate.

The first is that Emily really enjoys the non-academic portion of debate: being able to travel to cool places ranging from Saskatchewan to Cambridge and being able to engage with friends and other debaters on those trips as well as at the tournament. She loves the community and the network of amazing people that debate has been able to provide.

“Also, debate provides a large amount of intellectual enrichment. School can be a drag when you are learning about topics that you are genuinely uninterested in. For example, as a STEM student, there are only so many STEM courses you can take and if you are a humanities student like me, it is difficult to really go into depth on topics I’m really interested in. Through debate, I’ve been able to learn about topics I never knew about and learn about specific topics in greater depth. For example, the first assignment on Team Canada Debate is about reading and writing about philosophy, such as Egalitarianism which complements what I’m learning in Law Studies right now.”

Emily strongly emphasizes the necessity to be well informed in today’s age and to actively engage in a wide range of topics and discussions as possible. Debate has also helped Emily form her own opinions and be more aware of other opinions.

“Finally, the amount of support that is available in the debate community is genuinely the most valuable gift that comes from debate.” She explains that debate coaches as well as older debaters act as mentors and graciously offer their time on almost anything from advice for Team Canada tryouts to providing assistance with university applications.

How Was Your Experience Trying Out for Team Canada Debate? How Does it Feel to be on Team Canada?
“The process to get on Team Canada Debate is really, really, really long.” Emily mentions that the process of Team Canada takes a year. In order to try out for Team Canada debate, you need to qualify past through regionals, provincials and, if successful, at provincials, you are selected to attend BCQs, where the top debaters from British Columbia compete for one of the three spots given to the province to send to National Qualifiers. At National Qualifiers, the best debaters from across Canada debate against one another to compete for a spot on Team Canada.

Emily made the finals at BCQs, but unfortunately placed fourth overall, narrowly missing the chance to attend National Qualifiers. Fortunately for Emily, she was able to make the National Qualifiers through a different approach––the alternate applications. On the alternate applications, you demonstrate your interest to join the team and list your debate achievements in hope of being chosen to compete at National Qualifiers. Emily found out that she made National Qualifiers alongside five others from British Columbia. She then started practicing debate rigorously in preparation for tryouts.

“In the first round at National Qualifiers, I did really, really bad. It was just a very poor performance in my ways. After taking a break, I was able to give a decent speech in round two and that was probably the most memorable part of tryouts—being able to bounce back and give a good speech afterwards.”

She got the calls a couple of days later, the same day Emily had to submit speech videos for the World Individual and Debate Public Speaking Competition. She was shocked and called her friends to share the good news.

“There is something really gratifying about knowing that you put a lot of time, energy and investment into a goal you’ve chased for quite a while and feeling the reward of making the team. But I think there’s still a part of me that knows that this isn’t the end and wanting to continue to improve in debate despite being honored to have made the team”.

How Do You Manage Your Time?
Emily states that she has two tips for time management.

First, only focus on activities that you are truly interested in. Emily explains that she is an incredibly passionate person who always takes part in activities that have meaning and value to her. This helps remove time away from activities that she is not interested in, such as miscellaneous volunteering, and instead focus on what matters most to her.

Second, she recommends trying to finish work on time. Emily mentions that she often struggles to manage her time well. Therefore, she suggests making checklists or using software, such as Notion, to help stay organized. Emily has kindly provided some examples of how she organizes her time below.

Any Plans for the Future with this Activity?
“In general, I plan to stick with debate, competing at tournaments and coaching other students, which I really enjoy doing. It is really satisfying helping other students become more confident in public speaking”.

Any Words of Advice or Tips for Other Students Thinking About Pursuing Debate?
“For those considering doing debate—go for it!”

Emily explains that debate is an amazing activity that can help you with other parts of your life, such as writing essays better in class and being able to respectfully engage in discourse.

For those already debating, Emily’s biggest advice is this: “What you put in is definitely what you get out of it.”

What Emily loves about debate is that although there is some luck and natural talent involved, you are able to get as much as you put in. So, if you are passionate about debate, you should invest a large amount of time and expect to reap the awards for your hard work.

“Also, try to always remember or remind yourself why you do debate. If, at any point, you are feeling stressed or burned out, remind yourself why you love and do debate. For whatever reason, if you lose sight of that reason it can be incredibly overwhelming, so it’s really valuable to remind yourself when you are really tired.”