On Sunday, December 20, Yeshiva University High School for Boys (MTA) held its annual Great Debate at Yeshiva University’s Belfer Hall. MTA invited 12 yeshiva high schools to participate in a day of debate on the topic of whether or not organ donation should be presumed after death.

The program started off with an extemporaneous speaking competition. Those who wanted to compete were given a random topic and twenty minutes to prepare a five-minute speech. The top five speakers moved on to the next round, which took place after the debates. MTA’s own Yehuda Goldberg ‘17 placed in the top five.

Subsequent to the initial competition, a pizza lunch was served. After lunch, each debater, judge, and timekeeper looked at the program boards, prepared by MTA senior CJ Glicksman, to see what room they were assigned to for the first round. Two more rounds followed.

When all of the debates were finished, the scores and rankings of each debater and team were recorded by science instructor Mr. Chayim Goldberg. While the results were being determined, the second round of extemporaneous speaking was held. After deliberation, the judges decided that Yehuda Goldberg deserved the first place trophy for the extemporaneous speaking competition.

Finally, the scores from the debates were announced. Though MTA did not win any first place debating awards, Ezra Epstein and Dovid Schwartz did win third place team, and Dovid Schwartz won fifth place debater.

By CJ Glicksman ‘16