The Rachel Carson debate team is participating in a debate tournament in Maret Private School in Washington, D.C., on March 2.

The topic for this tournament will be “Is Animal Testing for Medical Purposes Morally Acceptable?”. 

The tournament will start at 9 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m. 

Mrs. Pamela Konde, one of the debate coaches, says “I think the team will do very well; They’ve prepared a lot for this tournament.”

Students have different opinions on the tournament.  Student, Isha Katti, 12, Champions, said, “I am still pretty nervous but I feel better prepared, compared to the last tournament.”

Some other students feel that the judges will come in with a bias towards one side of the topic which will lower their chance of winning.

“This is going to be so hard,” says Radhika Deshpande, 12, Champions. “How are we supposed to say ‘Torturing and killing animals is morally acceptable’? And on the other side, how are we supposed to say ‘It’s morally acceptable to abandon millions of people dying from diseases’? This is going to be very difficult.“