Personally, I see our success in the debate as a function of starting with the opposite position –we understood it, we embodied it and we believed it. Thus, when we had to come up with counter-arguments, and counter-counter arguments, the process was that much easier. We were taught, through first-hand experience, that discourse relied on holistic understanding of the arguments of all parties involved, and I believe that this teaching has had bled into all of our seminars and dinner discussions thus far. When we entered the increasingly homely halls of the North Building, we espoused a position diametrically opposite to our original one.

I’ve neglected the debate itself intentionally-in my humble opinion, the actual debate and its outcome was the least important part of this process. The weekend we spent together brought a set of relative strangers closer together, through the shared meals seasoned with policing jargon. On an academic level, the lessons of intellectual flexibility, of gracious disagreement and logical inference will touch every part of our summer, the next four years, and the rest of our lives.