Searching through the bustling halls of Bowie at the beginning of a new school year, for the first time freshmen will be walking into John Mast’s debate class with prior knowledge and skills all thanks to two students, seniors Larkin Bock and Olivia Baird.
Bock and Baird are the co-founders of the Gorzycki Mentor Debate Club. They meet almost every Thursday at Gorzycki to teach new skills and build confidence in any student interested in debate.
“We work with a range of sixth to eighth graders and try to keep the club pretty laid back,” Baird said. “We shift focus every week to what they feel unsure about after a competition, whether it be their cases or how to respond to certain arguments.”
Bowie’s debate program is led by Mast, and Bock and Baird have both been involved in the program since their freshman years. Baird is captain of the debate team, and Bock is the World Schools event chair.
“The Bowie debate team is the collection of grades in the competition debate class,” Baird said. “Different events will come together to prepare for tournaments, by compiling cases and creating back files of evidence for responses. There’s a competition available almost every weekend either at local high schools, in nearby Texas districts or nationally.”
Students who join Bowie’s debate team can participate in a range of events like Public Forum, Congress, Extemp, and World Schools. It was important to Bock and Baird that the program offered a variety of skills that would be transferable between different events if the students chose to continue debate in high school.
“Recently we helped them create their debate profiles which allows them to compete in real tournaments with high schoolers,” Bock said. “We also help them rewrite arguments and teach different techniques for different cases. My favorite thing is seeing them adapt to new skills quickly and gaining confidence through the practice time we give them.”
The program not only offers students the chance to learn advanced skills, but gives Bowie-bound students the opportunity to skip debate one and take the debate two course their freshman year and join the varsity team.
“Gorzycki’s debate class is a very recent development, but the program prepares them for much more than what is offered in debate one at Bowie,” Bock said. “So, it was important to Olivia and I that the students were being rewarded for the extra work they were putting in.”
The middle schoolers are not the only ones benefiting from the program. Bock and Baird are gaining teaching and mentoring experience as well as another thing to add to their college resumes as their senior years come to a near close.
“This program has taught me how much I really enjoy the coaching aspect of debate,” Baird said. “Being on the other side of the round has been really eye opening in my own argumentation as well and I’ve also gotten to see the difference Larkin and I can make by showing new debaters that they have someone in their corner, win or lose.”
The program was started early last fall in 2024, when Bock learned of the new debate class at Gorzycki. She started to reflect on her personal experience in debate as a freshman, and wanted to find a way to guide those students so they wouldn’t be going into debate in high school feeling as blind as she felt.
“When I entered debate I was very lost and wished I had more guidance, I wanted to create a club to help bridge the gap,” Bock said. “It definitely was a rocky start for me, I switched between events a few times and felt extremely unprepared for almost every round my freshman year. I kept losing and I was frustrated because I didn’t understand what I was doing wrong. I pushed myself to grow and figure it out, but my goal is to make sure less and less kids have to go through that each year.”
The kid’s who put in extra time outside of school through the program are also improving quickly in class. Matthew Balter who teaches debate at Gorzycki has seen a lot of improvement since the program started and is very excited for its continuation.
“The change is quite impressive,” Balter said. “Those who have regularly attended the program have heightened their skill in writing, research, and ability to draw connections in their argument.”
When Baird and Bock first introduced the idea to Mast, he was unsure of how it would develop and what effects it would have on both schools.
“I’ve really enjoyed seeing Larkin and Olivia grow throughout their years here at Bowie,” Mast said. “And now I get to see them use their skills and pass them down to the next group of kids who will come to Bowie.”
The program will have long-term effects on both schools, by allowing students who were in the club to go straight to varsity, Bowie’s debate team is hoping to see an increase in students and experience in the next coming years, which is hoped to lead to a mutual benefit for the schools.
“Bowie is able to help Gorzycki through the program by getting kids involved with debate,” Baird said. “While Gorzycki is helping Bowie by having kids come in who already know what they’re doing, allowing them to progress faster on the varsity circuit.”
It is very important to Bock and Baird that the program is continued after they graduate as well, so that many more students can benefit from the system they have set up.
“Olivia and I are soon going to need to consider our replacement,” Bock said. “We want someone who understands the importance of challenging the kids, but will bring their own ideas and techniques to the program as well.”
The program has been very successful over the past year and has had more positive outcomes than Bock and Baird originally thought possible. Gorzycki students have developed many skills, and the relationship between Gorzycki’s team and Bowie’s has grown significantly.
“I am looking forward to the growing relationship between our two schools,” Bock said. “Olivia and I have offered the students a lot, but they’ve taught us a lot as well. They’re extremely skilled and already doing things I don’t think I’d ever be able to do, so I’m excited for their futures and our team’s future.”
