The annual MacBean Bowl was held on Tuesday, May 7, bringing together a talented group of Upper School debaters and alumni judges.
Junto is EA's oldest club and sponsors the annual spring three-round debate tournament that covers timely topics.
The semifinal round kicked off Tuesday evening posing the question, "Should colleges and universities publicly disclose all of their investments?"
The freshman duo of Boden Moraski and Connor Myers faced seniors Jason Daum, Austin Bouvel, and Khoa Tran in the first grouping.
In the second group, seniors Gavin Schmidt, Nik Athwal, and Aru Venugopalan debated juniors Gray Collins, along with Eli and Theo Engelman.
Both teams of seniors advanced to the championship round where they debated the question of whether "Students should be able to use AI for school assignments"
Jason, Austin, and Khoa laid out reasons that support the use of AI for school assignments. Gavin, Nik, and Aru argued against it.
The judges found the trio of Jason, Austin, and Khoa the most convincing and crowned them the winners of this year's MacBean Bowl.
"It was a fun night, and very cool to see a freshman team make it to the semifinals. The future of debate at EA is bright," said Middle School English Teacher and debate advisor Jen Maier, Hon.
"Debate takes a lot of courage, and I commend our debaters for putting themselves out there and demonstrating sportsmanship and courtesy in their debates," said Upper School History Teacher and debate advisor Kris Aldridge, Hon. "Ultimately, Khoa, Jason, and Austin deservedly won the MacBean Bowl, but all of the debaters were so polished, prepared, and effective."
This year's alumni judges included: Ishan Bhattacharyya '23, Yvvy Chen '21, and Zach LaTour '23 (in person), and Dean Avgerinos '13, Jack Brinker '16, Julia Fay '13, Matt London '13, and Jimmy McEntee '11 (virtual).
"Every year I am amazed by the generosity of our alumni who give their time to judge the MacBean Bowl and their expertise to help our debaters get even better," said Mrs. Aldridge.
"It's lovely that alumni return, some over a dozen years after graduating from Episcopal, to check in with us advisors and give back to Junto by judging and giving such great feedback," remarked Mrs. Maier. "Junto continues to mean so much to all of us. It has been an honor to help guide it for the past eighteen years."