This year, three students founded a new Mount Greylock debate club. Designed to help students develop confidence as public speakers and engage in current event conversations, the club has quickly gained traction among students across the grades.
The Debate Club was created by sophomore Adele Low, first-year Averill Oxborough, and senior Charlotte Holubar with the support of faculty advisor Mary MacDonald. Reflecting on its creation, Low said, “We both [Averill and I] went to camps that were doing a lot of debating. We separately emailed Mrs. MacDonald and said we want to start a club because we haven’t had a debate club here.”
The club hopes to provide a welcoming and supportive environment where students can share ideas and engage in constructive arguments. “We just wanted to create an environment at Greylock for the people who want to have productive conversations about important topics and give people the opportunity to organize our ideas and thoughts. We wanted to become better public speakers and to be able to have conversations with people that don’t agree with us,” Low said.
The club meets every other Sunday at Williams College in order to access the facilities there and tap into student volunteers. The timing of meetings was also intentional. “We chose Sunday nights to accommodate students who are involved in sports, theater, or other activities. And by meeting biweekly, it is not too costly timewise,” said Holubar.
The incorporation of Williams College students into the club has been a large part of the organizational framework. Experienced debaters from the college volunteer their time to help lead lessons and guide breakout groups. The partnership helps give the Mount Greylock students more access to advanced strategies, lessons, and games.
There are over thirty members, ranging from grades seven through twelve. One of its youngest members, seventh grader Simon Kapiloff, said, “It was interesting to see how other people can debate in crazy ways—they can explain what they like and how they feel, even if it’s something silly like our first topic, vegetables versus fruits.”
The club’s inclusive approach ensures that students of all experience levels should feel comfortable joining. Low said, “You don’t need any experience at all. I am just someone who has a lot of opinions, and I like to argue. I have never been in a debate club before this. I just really wanted to have a space to let people speak to each other.”
Interested students are encouraged to join with no experience required. Low added, “Don’t be afraid to join because you’re new to debating or public speaking. The point is to improve and have fun while building a community.”