Posted 1:15 pm Monday, February 04, 2013
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Students hone rhetoric skills in debate classes
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Editor's note: This is the first of four articles to run in the coming months about high school debate in East Texas.
BY FAITH HARPER
fharper@tylerpaper.com
BY FAITH HARPER
fharper@tylerpaper.com
Debate partners Madalyn Mikkelsen and Meredith McDonald said their friendship began with debate.
The two Athens 17-year-old juniors, said they knew each other but weren't very close until Mikkelsen asked McDonald to be her partner their sophomore year in what is considered to be the most time-intensive form of high school debate competition called cross examination.
Mikkelsen said she originally wanted to join Model United Nations, but since her school did not offer it she settled in with debate as an alternative.
LINDALE HIGH SCHOOL senior Jessica Warren, 17, and junior Payton Cooley, 17, discuss the case they are about to present for their next speech during debate class Wednesday.
“I really, really liked it but I was terrible,” Mikkelsen said. “I lost every round my first year but I went to camp and I got better and I was like, 'I need a real partner and that's where Meredith came in.”
“We are both ranked really high in our class,” she said. “I knew Meredith was really smart and you have to be smart.”
The pair went to debate camp for three weeks during the summer to begin preparing their intricate cases and defenses.
The pair went to debate camp for three weeks during the summer to begin preparing their intricate cases and defenses.
The students said they really enjoy the work and believe it will help make them more competitive in their future careers.
“We are both just really goofy people. We do like dumb things all the time so we kind of clicked right off the bat,” McDonald said.
“We are both just really goofy people. We do like dumb things all the time so we kind of clicked right off the bat,” McDonald said.
Collin Lamar speaks during the congressional debate event at Whitehouse High School.
Debate requires giving up weekends to go to two-day long practice meets at various schools in the region. Each meet could have up to 40 different schools competing.
Makencie Lohman, an All Saints senior and Lincoln Douglass debater, said she has made many friends during the competitions.
“It's been really awesome,” she said. “I've made so many awesome friends — a lot of them are exceedingly strange like me — so it's been pretty cool. (They are) from everywhere. If I didn't join debate … I would know pretty much no one outside my school.”
As friendly as students may be between matches, they are all business when the judge says begin. Local teachers said the East Texas area is a powerhouse for debate and each year someone from the region makes it to state and national competitions.
Students have been working extra hard the past couple weeks to be their best as the season nears an end. District competitions for cross examination debate will be Tuesday in Lindale, and the national qualifying meet will be Valentine's Day.
Regionals will be completed in April, with state competitions in May and nationals in June.
Brownsboro senior Caleb Cade was ranked 12th in the nation last year in the Lincoln Douglass debate. He was coerced to join his sophomore year by the debate coach and his parents and ended up finding he loved to talk and argue, and he was good at it.
“This is a really competitive district, and I think that kind of gave me an edge at nationals because you see kids come to nationals who are from districts that aren't really competitive,” he said. “I think having to compete against the best here in East Texas gave me a little bit of an advantage.”
Makencie Lohman, an All Saints senior and Lincoln Douglass debater, said she has made many friends during the competitions.
“It's been really awesome,” she said. “I've made so many awesome friends — a lot of them are exceedingly strange like me — so it's been pretty cool. (They are) from everywhere. If I didn't join debate … I would know pretty much no one outside my school.”
As friendly as students may be between matches, they are all business when the judge says begin. Local teachers said the East Texas area is a powerhouse for debate and each year someone from the region makes it to state and national competitions.
Students have been working extra hard the past couple weeks to be their best as the season nears an end. District competitions for cross examination debate will be Tuesday in Lindale, and the national qualifying meet will be Valentine's Day.
Regionals will be completed in April, with state competitions in May and nationals in June.
Brownsboro senior Caleb Cade was ranked 12th in the nation last year in the Lincoln Douglass debate. He was coerced to join his sophomore year by the debate coach and his parents and ended up finding he loved to talk and argue, and he was good at it.
“This is a really competitive district, and I think that kind of gave me an edge at nationals because you see kids come to nationals who are from districts that aren't really competitive,” he said. “I think having to compete against the best here in East Texas gave me a little bit of an advantage.”
