Partners Andrew Dong ‘24 and Ben Kleiman ‘24 held their breath, waiting for the final verdict of the 2023 Public Forum Debate State Championships.
A text message over Zoom. That was how everything began.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and an upcoming school year, high school clubs scrambled to recruit new members after the pandemic shutdown. Posters and fliers turned into Instagram posts, one of which caught Dong’s attention. Dong logged onto the first meeting with a partner and a plan but left with neither.
“My debate partner at the time quit on me, [so] I wanted to quit,” Dong said. “I was going to quit, but Ben sent me a message over Zoom and was like, ‘I need a partner. You want to partner up with me?’”
Having just moved to the district the previous year, Kleiman initially felt unsure about his involvement with debate. But after hearing about the potential skills he could gain and the news of an open partner, Kleiman decided he would give it a try.
“We both [attended] Northwest Junior High and were taking classes at West High. We would carpool, so I kind of knew Andrew,” Kleiman said.
“Kind of knew Andrew” was an overstatement. As the two reflected on their first encounter after four years, both laughed at how close they’ve become as a team and as friends.
“I didn’t have the best impression of Ben at that time. He didn’t talk at all,” Dong said. “[But] we gave it a try, and a couple of weeks later, we had our first [debate]
tournament.”
In PF Abhi & Titan, Jonas & Bashir place in octofinals. Andrew and Ben WIN THE STATE TITLE! pic.twitter.com/rAfrcLmuPO
— ICW Speech & Debate (@ICWspeechdebate) January 8, 2023
The First Tournament
On top of being new to the activity/event, the pair had to face another challenge. The partners couldn’t learn to debate the traditional way, and had to adjust to the current situation of the world.
“COVID is probably the worst time you can get started in Speech and Debate,” Kleiman said. ”[This] is an activity about communication and learning how to get your point across. That’s not as easy to do when you’re talking to a computer screen rather than in person, where you can actually make eye contact.”
During their novice year, the two spent countless hours communicating through Zoom, practicing their speeches. Although the boys lacked confidence in their ability, their first tournament turned out to be an unexpected success.
“We did really good,” Dong said. “We were on a phone call for like 14 hours [because] that’s how we would communicate during rounds.”
The first tournament sparked a new sense of team, and both Dong and Kleiman knew that this partnership would take them far down the road.
“I wasn’t expecting very much, but in that first tournament, I could tell we were both in it. We’re both competitive, but we were just there to have a good time,” Kleiman said. “And that was evident after winning rounds. We were laughing, and we were having fun with it. That’s when I knew this was something I could look forward to doing.”
The Road to #1
Winning 4-1, Dong and Kleiman received a bid to nationals at the East District Tournament Feb. 16, 2021. As the first-ever freshmen Public Forum debaters to qualify for nationals, they cherished this opportunity as a learning experience and set a grand goal: to win state.
“The [Iowa High School Speech Association (IHSSA)] state championship round is the most important debate tournament for me,” Dong said. “So sophomore year, the goal was to win state.”
After getting eliminated by Dowling Catholic in the semifinals, the pair ended in third place at the IHSSA State Tournament, with a record of 5-2. Although this was not the result they were expecting, the setback only encouraged them more. The pair now had two years of experience and were ready to take the plaque home.
Dong believes their strategy going into state was the main reason they saw results.
“For the state tournament, the judges there are far less experienced in judging debate. The strategy we had was to talk slowly, make eye contact and be good speakers,” Dong said. “That pushed us to the final.”
Kleiman credited the past years of practice for how they got to where they are today.
“Being able to do [the state strategy] at a high level, requires a fundamental amount of experience, which we could only build up through time,” Kleiman said.
Debate Dynamic
In Public Forum debate, partners each take a certain role that determines when they speak and what they say.
“The first speaker has a really good vision of what’s going on and is able to summarize what’s happening. The second speaker is usually doing a lot of attacking and coming up with on-the-fly responses,” Kleiman said.
Dong and Kleiman believe the two of them fill in what each lacks and that their roles in this team play a big part in their success.
“Andrew is very calm and collected. He has a good eye for what is going on in the round, so he gravitates to that first speaker role,” Kleiman said.
Similarly, Dong appreciates Kleiman’s skill as the second speaker.
“Ben comes up with better arguments to attack another person’s case. He sees the flaws more easily, whereas I just try to see how we will win,” Dong said. “Ben does the work, and I try to push it to the judge.”
Through all the wins and losses, happiness and disappointments, their friendship and trust for one another deepen. The judges have even noticed their chemistry as partners.
“Most of the time, judges comment on how much we talk to each other in the round,” Dong said. “I think our strength is that we work together to build off each other’s arguments.”
Even outside of the round, the duo’s chemistry is strong. Unexaggerated, the pair would do anything for each other.
“A funny story about [the] state championship that we just won, Ben was in Costa Rica,” Dong said. “But he came back early because he told his mom, ‘I need to go back because this tournament is the only reason why Andrew does debate.’”
Although the partners saw the most success in their junior year, both recalled their freshman year as having the fondest memories.
“Our first couple of tournaments as novices, we were still very new to debate. I’m not going to take away all of our credit, but there were definitely some rounds where beginner’s luck played in,” Kleiman said. “There’s nothing funnier than seeing your opponents just look crushed because they lost to these two tiny, little kids, and you’re like, ‘how did this even happen?”
For Dong, those unprepared, chaotic moments were when he found the most joy.
“At the Bettendorf Tournament, we won the final round off of a card we pulled from a blog. This evidence from this blog, a totally uncredible base, [said] we had a 93% chance of going to nuclear war in the next 100 years, ” Dong said. “Our opponents wanted to see [the card] and we’re like ‘yeah, sorry. I’m on my iPad. I can’t send it to you. Do you want to see it on my computer?’ They said no but our judges called it out.”
Bendrew’s Future with Debate
Having reached their priority goal, the duo has taken separate ways in their career. Kleiman is still competing and recently received his first bid to the Tournament of Champions with his current partner, Bashir Eltyeb ‘25, at the Apple Valley Minneapple Debate Tournament Nov. 4.
Although Dong is not currently active due to other priorities, he believes debate will stay with him forever.
“Debate is truly a foundational activity in my life. Without debate, I wouldn’t know how to persuade others, how to be a good speaker, how to talk,” Dong said. “Even though I haven’t spent as much time on debate as I did during the first two years of high school, it is still one of the most influential activities [that] affects my life.”
Dong and Kleiman’s intentions were clear as they first went into debate, to find satisfaction from a new activity. This mindset allowed them to grow to be better versions of themselves today.
“Debate, as an activity, is what you make of it,” Kleiman said. “It’s not just about winning tournaments. For some people, debate is just an educational activity. But for Andrew and I, we still have some level of rigor, but it’s mostly a place where we can pick up new skills and find some enjoyment from that.”
The duo took a moment to acknowledge the mentors who guided them on their journey in debate, starting with the head Speech and Debate coach, John Cooper.
“[Because of Cooper] we had the opportunity to go to varsity tournaments and tournaments that were way beyond our skill level,” Kleiman said. “Obviously, we got crushed, but those were learning experiences.”
Former Public Forum partners Catherine Yang ‘23 and Alice Doresca ‘23 mentored Dong and Kleiman since the start of their careers, and the duo recognizes the impact of the mentorship they received.
“It was a lot of self-taught learning. Ben and I would go into these practice rounds before our first tournament, and we both didn’t know what we were doing,” Dong said. “[Then] Alice and Catherine gave us outlines on how we should structure our arguments. I got that outline the day before our first tournament, and it just clicked altogether.”
After reflecting on three full years of debating, practices and fun memories, Kleiman is glad he joined this club.
“If you are somewhat interested in debate, don’t feel intimidated or feel like it’s not the right space for you,” Kleiman said. ”You ultimately dictate what debate is going to be for yourself.”
Watch some of Bendrew’s funny moments down below.
