Texas High Schooler Wins First Speaker Award at Global Debate Contest

Sanika Agarwalla got into debate because she talked too much in class. Years later, she turned what was a classroom disruption into award-winning persuasive skills.

The junior from The Hockaday School in Dallas led her team to the finals of the 22nd annual International Public Policy Forum (IPPF) championship in New York City last weekend.

While her team fell short of the top prize, they walked away with $3,500 for their debate program.

Agarwalla was also presented with the inaugural John E. Sexton Award, which honors an outstanding speaker in the final round as determined by the judges. Agarwalla’s coach, Chuck Walts, said she drew the judges into her speech with her presence and charisma.

“You can see how she draws everybody into the speech, the way in which she can use a turn of a phrase in order to make a point and the rhetorical prowess she has during the speech,” he said. “I think those are often components of debate, when we focus on the argumentation level, that can be forgotten.”

Christina Phillips, a debate coach, IPPF Advisory Board member and finals judge, told Newsweek that Agarwalla proved she was “a force to be reckoned with” in her “assertive responses and questioning” throughout the debate.

After the finals, Agarwalla spoke to Newsweek about the IPPF competition and her love of debate.

How did it feel to make it to the “Elite Eight” for in-person oral debates in New York and go all the way to the finals?

I remember when we were being announced in the room for the “Elite Eight” round, and when we finally beat the team [from] Singapore to move on to the top four, we were listening to the judges’ discussion, and my eyes started welling up. It was emotional before the finals round, before the semis round, even sitting up there on the stage. So the whole ride was emotional.

How did you start debating?

When I was little, especially in elementary school, I got a kick out of ballet classes. And my math teacher used to make me sit out of the classroom and said, “You talk way too much in class—you’re such a distraction.” So my parents were like, “You should do speech and debate. You have a full five minutes when they will listen to you, and they won’t kick you out for speaking.”

So I started public speaking when I was in fourth grade, and I did a program called DFW Speech and Debate. I remember back then my biggest strength was impromptu speaking. I would always have really obscure analyses that did not relate to the topic at all but were really funny and kind of brought together the main topics. And so that’s carried on with me throughout my whole public speaking and debate career. Even now when it’s about Russia and Ukraine, I’ll bring up something about ants or forest fires.

How did your team prepare for the IPPF competition?

I think one of my favorite parts about IPPF is that all six of us could work on every single speech.

I think all of us got to contribute equally, and a lot, to our research, and we bonded a lot. I mean, even with Dr. Walts, we would come early in the morning, practice an hourlong debate with the judge questioning period and everything. I think the best part was all of us getting to be together so much.

How did you determine who would be doing the oral debate portion of the contest?

Throughout the year, when we do oral debate, local tournaments, all of us have a designated kind of speech that we always do. So we kind of went by speech and what our strengths are and what we’re used to.

I physically cannot give a first speech because I always joke to my friends and my teammates that, like, I can’t read. So if I’m standing at a podium or in front of a mic and have to read a speech, I absolutely cannot do it. I like to do the third speech where I can ramble on about whatever I want.

International Public Policy Forum co-founders John Sexton (left) and William Brewer (right) honor Sanika Agarwalla, a junior from The Hockaday School in Dallas, with the inaugural John E. Sexton Award at the IPPF finals in New York City on Saturday, May 6. Michael Paras/IPPF

What was it like to receive real-time questions and feedback from a panel of expert judges in the final round?

For me, a lot of the judges on the panel were people I look up to. James Traub was on the panel—he writes for Foreign Policy magazine, which I read every single day. When he looked at me and asked the first question, I was holding back tears.

I was like, this is very paradoxical because on one side, I’m being completely grilled by this man who has such a high intellect and so much experience with these topics, and he’s completely challenging and critiquing my arguments. But then, at the very same time, it was almost like I felt so heard and seen and respected by someone who I look up to so much.

So it was a great experience to even have these people who work in foreign policy—and I want to work in foreign policy when I’m older. So people who have an influence over international relations, for them to even listen to what I’d have to say meant a whole lot to me.

How does it feel to be the first winner of the John E. Sexton Award, named after IPPF co-founder, legendary debate coach and President Emeritus of New York University John Sexton?

To me, [the award] shined a light on the relationships that you build with the people you debate with and the people you debate against during the round, jokes that I made, the questions that I answered to judges, the analogies that arose from that. Incorporating that into my speeches and naming the judges and saying, “To your point, this is what I meant,” or even kind of teasing the judges a little bit in my speeches—that kind of relationship is a lot of the time lost in debate rounds.

So I think this award exemplifies that debate is also about a key component of communication. That is relationship building and the human connection that you make. And I really felt that with Dr. Sexton as well. I remember looking at the judges panel, and he would be smiling during my speech. When I called him out, and he would be laughing and nodding and writing in his notes, I think that was the most fun part.

All of [that] connection building and the very human parts of it were a big part of the John E. Sexton Award because it shows that being a good speaker is not always just about being smarter than the person next to you. It’s about being more human than the person next to you.

What impact has debate had on you?

I always need an excuse to learn more. And in a very busy school year in high school, debate is that perfect place for me to be given new topics to learn about that I never would have delved in by myself.

I am a very humanity-centered, politics-centered person…being able to learn so deeply about information and hear other people’s perspectives on those things means a lot to me.

I’ve carried that onto my podcast, Gen Talks, which is about women’s rights, and we delve into different topics every month.

I think that ability to be versatile and learn about a diverse range of topics and understand them deeply from different people’s perspective has helped me.

Debate taught me to not only speak but also listen, and the skill of listening. Debate taught me how to listen and how to be open to altering my perspectives and tweaking them to be more empathetic, to kind of cover up ignorance and to enjoy doing that in the process.