As the debate season picks up, students prepare for upcoming tournaments. Debate is a class that focuses on teaching students how to research and prepare in order to create arguments in a discussion about a topic. The class helps students work on their critical thinking and personal public speaking skills.
“Debate gives a lot of portable skills like research and writing arguments which are critical for school,” Debate Coach John Mast said. “It helps people to work through the thought process creating critical thinking skills and thinking through what someone thinks about the world around them.”
Some students from these classes will join the debate team. The debate team goes to competitions where certain topics are presented and each team takes on an opposing position on the topic. The competitions showcase a team’s ability to research, present, make arguments, and think on their feet in a high pressure situation.
“My goal for this year is to grow my personal speech and debate skills while meeting others in the process,” sophomore Simon Cottam said.
A crucial part of being on the debate team is making sure the students are constantly preparing for the competitions.
“I always rehearse my speeches in front of a mirror, paying attention to my facial expressions and tone,” Captain Julia Low said. “I assist others by reviewing speeches, arguments, and cases and working one-on-one with individuals to prepare them for competitions.”
The newer members of the debate team also prepare for their upcoming competitions.
“I have been preparing by going over each bill we are going to be debating in the competition, writing my speeches against or for each one,” sophomore Sarah Marcus said.
Although they rehearse on a day-to-day basis, they can still get anxious to compete. For novice members especially, the first competition can bring lots of public speaking anxiety.
“I am nervous for myself personally as I haven’t done this before,” Marcus said. “I believe everyone else on the team has very good ideas and speaks well, and will likely do well in competition this year”.
Performance anxiety comes with public speaking, young and old. Even senior members like Captain Julia Low experiences nerves before a big tournament.
“It’s hard to believe, but even in my 4th year of competing, I still get nervous. Talking to my coach, Mr. Mast, and my teammates helped me relax and feel ready for the competition,” said Low, “Our strength is teamwork. I believe that everyone works to support and help each other”.
Marcus and Low deal with nerves, but Low thinks their teamwork is what pushes them to their limits and helps everyone reach their goals. This goes to show that not only does debate help students improve their speaking skills but it also teaches them how to deal with nerves and work together.
Even though the debate team teaches students so many different life skills they aren’t as recognized as some of the other clubs.
“We are nationally recognized, and we go to state and nationals every year,” Low said “ We are often overlooked because we are seen as just a club, but we are super successful.”
Low thinks that the reason they are so successful is because their team is dedicated to growth and improvement. They strive to be better every day by fixing and learning from their mistakes, she believes that that is the key to becoming a better debater.
Debate isn’t just successful but it is beneficial for students to learn and it impacts their life skills in so many different ways. As much work as the debate team may seem, Low couldn’t emphasize more how much fun debate can be.
“One [competition] per weekend” but “as much as it seems like a ton of work, I wouldn’t give up debating for the world, and I plan to debate in college,” Low said.
