The debate club is preparing for the upcoming Dallastown Wildcat invitational in early November.
Adviser Andrew Warren has success on his mind when explaining foundations of debate.
“Overall, my goal for the club is to support students that have an interest in the art of debate and public speaking,” Warren said. “Members will learn different styles of debate because there are multiple ways to debate a particular topic.”
When debating topics, research on the topic is vital to winning the debate competitions, according to Warren.
Photograph by Keira Heflin
“Due to the requirement for us to use factual evidence to support our positions, we avoid opinion-based arguments,” Warren said. “The types of arguments students make [in] speech and debate club need to be supported by factual evidence as well as student research on a given topic.”
Warren is ready to prepare debate club members to compete against other schools’ students.
“We have a competition that interested students will have the opportunity to participate in this fall,” Warren said. “It’s called the Dallastown Wildcat Invitational, and that is a one day tournament that’s held in Dallastown Highschool in early November.”
Debate club participation sophomore Miles Garrett is passionate about the art of debate.
“Well, I’m very passionate about arguing about things I feel strongly towards, and I like using consistent logic in rhetoric within my argument to make them as strong as they can be and effective,” Garrett said.
Garrett appreciates how much participation in the group has helped his public speaking skills.
“It’s given me more security in what I’m saying cause I know how, not only what I’m saying but how to say it and present it,” Garrett said. “…it just structures speech… in…[a] more formatted way than just rambling.”
Warren encourages students with an interest in debate to attend, even if they do not want to compete.
“Both novist and experienced debaters are welcomed to participate,” Warren said. “It’s not a requirement for a participating member of our club to attend the tournament, especially if a student is a new member but is not quite feeling comfortable to participate in a competition.”
