During Spring Break, Matt Phillips ’06 competed in the World Debate Championships at Hotchkiss. He was the first Choate student to do so in recent history.

Matt qualified for the championships several weeks ago by winning a debate at Loomis Chaffee; this made him one of the 10 representatives of the United States at the competition, all of whom attend boarding schools. In all, there were 66 competitors from 10 different countries.

This was Matt’s first time attending such a competition. At first, he was nervous, though during the competition he found himself quick to adapt to the situation due to his past experiences as a master debater.

The competition was broken up into multiple rounds and four categories. In the first round, each contestant competed in every category. From the second round on, the contestants competed only in the category in which he or she scored highest in the first round.

The four categories were impromptu speaking, parliamentary speaking, interpretive reading, and persuasive speaking. Matt advanced in the impromptu speaking category.

Impromptu speaking requires a quick mind—two minutes before the event, each contestant receives a different word or phrase on a slip of paper. After the two-minute prep period, he or she must give a three to five minute speech on the subject. The words are usually not that exciting; for instance, two of Matt’s words word “Birdcage” and “Eraser.”

Matt advanced all the way to the “Final Round” of the competition in impromptu speaking, but the judges did not choose to advance him to the “Grand Finals” in which only two contestants competed.

The winner of the 2006 World Debate Championship was Shakir Rahim of Ridley College, a high school in Canada.