It’s Up for Debate!

Skyline’s debate team is set to have a fantastic season this year! The number of new debaters has increased dramatically, and many of the veteran debaters have now become captains. With the first tournaments of the season starts, many novice debaters will be diving into debate for the first time, but they’ll be more than prepared with the help of their captains. With this collaborative effort, debate is sure to clinch the district, regional, and even state championships.

What many people don’t realize is that debate is more than just constructed arguments and discussions,  it also features performance and presentation. Debate features eight unique events, which are broken into two groups: debate events and speech events.

Debate events involve various forms of discussion and formal arguing about certain topics, ranging from current events to general topics such as the importance of public education. The debate events include Public Forum, where two partners research a topic that is in the news, and then prepare two cases to argue for or against a certain stance on that topic.

There is also Lincoln Douglas Debate, which is similar to Public Forum, but the main difference is that rather than working with a partner, each side has only one person arguing the case.

On the other hand, speech events involve debaters presenting themselves in a more performance-like setting. Among the speech events is Oratory, one person writes and memorizes a speech about the topic of their choosing, and then presents it, and Impromptu where the speaker is given a topic 30 minutes ahead of time and must write a shorter speech within that amount of time.

Members of the debate team are free to pick any event that piques their interest. Some even pick an event from both categories, which can be very rewarding, despite being harder to manage.

Another aspect of debate some may underestimate is the amount of effort that must go into the actual activity. Captains are already preparing novices for their first tournaments, conducting labs after school to teach novices how to perform well in their respective events. Some events are more intense than others, but this only reflects how diverse the events are and how each one caters to different interests. Regardless, the debate team is extremely hard-working and will stop at nothing to achieve victory.

Debate has been (and still is) one of Skyline’s most active club activities for years. For the past 2 years, Skyline Debate has taken the state championship. In that time, debate has not made kids more confident in their speaking abilities, but it has also helped many students discover new ideas and information that will lead them to a better future.

Debate has also helped inform its participants of events occurring all over the world, creating a group of well-informed analysts who are eager to do what they do best. There is no doubt that the team this year is extremely passionate and full of motivation. As the season progresses, they will only strive to improve their track record.

Debate meets every day of every week of school (except Fridays) after school from 2:30 to about 3:30-4:00 p.m. Debate events meet on Mondays and Wednesdays, and speech events meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Tournaments during this month include Silver & Blue, a tournament for speech events, and Speech Arts, which despite its name is for debate events only, yet focuses on evaluating debaters’ speaking abilities.