Roman Debate is fairly new, and there isn't really a precedent for someone else doing something like it. The story of Roman Debate starts in a 9th grade World History classroom at Ridgewood High School. I was a freshman in my first year of high school in the early days of my history obsession. My history teacher introduced me and my class to something revolutionary: open historical debate. Each person or small group would take the role of a country and argue both for future peace and our interests. I was instantly captivated by this style of debate. Not only was it exciting to put myself in the place of the leader of a nation, but it was also interesting how there could be dozens of different outcomes depending on the decisions of the nations present. I had never been so immersed in a class before. Open historical debate allowed me to use my love of logical debate outside of the conventional debate formats, which I found rather restrictive. This experience laid the foundation for the style of the Roman Debate club.

The second origin of the Roman Debate club happened across my freshman and sophomore years.

I had taken Latin for a few years, and I found Roman history (and later classical history) more and more captivating. I started to research the history of the Roman empire (and the Byzantines) and eventually joined my school's Certamen (Latin Quizbowl) team as the member in charge of history.

I thought about the emperors, consuls, and senators of Rome, and the decisions they made that made the world we know. I also sometimes pondered how things could have gone differently if events had been different.

With these two interests already lodged in my brain, all I needed was motivation to innovate. That motivation came in the form of impact activities. What was something I could enjoy doing and impact my community with? Something novel and exciting? The answer came to me suddenly one night: a debate in the style of the Roman Senate. This would combine the flexibility of open historical debate with my love for Roman history and imagining alternate scenarios. I soon put this plan into motion and created a handbook for members to use to debate. During Ridgewood High School's club fair, I overcame my anxiety about recruiting strangers and set up a place for my club. Two of my friends soon joined, and we formed the core of the Roman Debate Club. I later added a more easily comprehensible section to the handbook to ease understanding.

The club expanded again when we welcomed our first freshman member. He was an incredibly bright student with a keen interest in Roman history and we were glad to welcome him. While he was blind, that did nothing to dampen his energy. After making accommodations by explaining the rules verbally, we had one of our most successful debates to date.