This Saturday, the debate team scored a first place title at the South Holiday Classic, and debate coach and sponsor Josh Quimby was awarded the Coach of the Month Award. This was the first debate tournament to ever be held at South.

Teams prepared during the weeks leading up to the tournament, developing their ideas and working together to build arguments for their assigned cases. “It’s definitely going to pay off because, even five minutes away from the debate, we are still working on it,” freshman John Beggs said.

Debate team members are prepared to debate a wide variety of topics, ranging from politics to whether or not college athletes should get paid. The style in which the topics are debated depends on the category students are assigned to.

During any given debate competition, students are divided into four categories of debates: Policy, Public Forum, Congress and Lincoln-Douglas (debates on philosophical issues). Each category of debate has a designated case in which students must work together to develop cases for each side. At the time of the debate, teams flip a coin to decide who argues the pro side and who argues the con side.

Throughout tournament days, teams will eventually get to argue both sides of the case they are assigned. Tournaments are typically all-day events, and students may have to compete in as many as four different debates, depending on the category they are in. In order to reign successful in competitions, students must be proficient in their arguing and public speaking skills.

Although debate team is challenging, many students also find it rewarding.

“I enjoy debate because it helps me with my speaking skills, and I get to learn how to speak in front of others and defend something. It helps me be overall confident in how I speak to the public,” freshman Andrea Pinto said.

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