To some of us, a debate may seem to be just a simple thing we do every day, sometimes without knowing it. This is not the case with Scott Leonard, a student in debate. Scott is a senior enjoying his last year in his debate class. He joined the debate team during his junior year in 2016. He had taken speech beforehand and wanted to see what debate would be like, saying it seemed “fun.” The team of AHS debaters have different jobs according to Leonard.

His job on the team of debaters is radio broadcasting. This is done to have the debates recorded for the competitions. When competitions come, Leonard, “Try to go to half of them,” doing his best to attend. To learn more about the debate class and competitions, AHS journalism went to the instructor in charge of the speech and debate department here at AHS, Alex Bales.

Bales was able to inform us on what occurs in both the classroom and in competitions. Bales claimed while in the class, students are taught different forms of debating and how to respond to subjects. When competition time comes around, their new found knowledge comes into play.

The topic of a competition is typically a recent public issue according to Bales. A normal debate works in rounds, allowing each side a chance to respond and say their own opinion on the topic. Most of these are preliminary rounds, meaning that it happens before the main debating. Of course, during these debates, the students are the most important part.

The number of participants this year are 11 students in the class. The number of students comes and goes in waves. Of these students, freshmen are the most common members of debate as told by Bales. Out of the students in the class, only about 6 go to each competition. Bales said, “It depends on how far away it is.” While there are many sides to the story of debate, another student’s thoughts were given.

Sarah Schorle is a junior in high school and an active member of the debate team. She joined debate because she had multiple friends in the class. Schorle claimed that you did not have to be in debate or speech to perform in the competitions. She enjoys her time in debate and said debate is “taking the audience on a roller coaster.” Leonard on the other hand has a different reason for joining debate.

Leonard loves to meet new people when they travel for competitions that he enjoys. For his final year in debate, he is doing his best to make it last and worthwhile.  

For further information on debating styles, refer to: https://idebate.org/debate-formats