Last school year, the debate team won states with Student Congress members Vincent Mazzola placing first, Neha Onteru placing third and Public Forum team Frank Mazzola and Devin MacGoy placing eighth. They did this with the hard, cold facts. This year they have some new tricks up their sleeves such as more practice rounds. Some of the students on the team are also planning on trying extemporaneous speaking this year which is a branch of forensics that involves knowing all about current events from around the world.

“Last year, we worked on research for the majority of our practice time, but this year we are practicing our cases and having mock rounds to perfect our arguments,” said sophomore Devin MacGoy

Not only is the team perfecting their cases, but they are also diving into a new form of speech called extemporaneous speaking, or exempt for short. This form of speech requires more knowledge of current events. Participants have a bin full of information on different countries, they will not know which country they will be speaking on until the tournament begins.

“We are given less than thirty minutes to prepare a speech taking a stance on a question,” said senior Emily Gindhart.

Over the summer the team held non-mandatory practices to give them a headstart for when the school year began. The members who attended were able to get a jump on the research needed for their cases for the upcoming season. They began doing basic research on current events so that when the season did begin they would have strong prior knowledge.

“Practices provide background information on major supranational organizations, as well as the United States government,” said Gindhart.

When the team first gets a new a topic, they brainstorm ideas for potential pro and con arguments that could be used in competition, discussing what they know and what they need to research. This brainstorming is followed by retrieving information from government agencies and news sources to back up their claims. Once they have a case written up, they practice their speeches.

“We argue in mock rounds to find the holes in our cases and make them the best they can be before we go off to our tournaments,” said MacGoy.

Whether the team is working on cases or buffing up on their knowledge of current events, they are sure to have a great season.

“Debate is unique because I can apply what I have learned in school to debate and what I have learned in debate to school,” said MacGoy.