Photo by Alexis Henry
The Hastings High debate team has had a busy few weeks with state and national qualifying tournaments for three styles of debate within a few weeks of each other.
There are three types of debate available to HHS students. The first is Lincoln Douglas which focuses on more philosophical and moral issues done one versus one. The second is Public Forum which focuses on factual evidence and is debated two versus two over current issues.
The national qualifying tournament for these two divisions was held March 2-3. Twelve debaters from Hastings participated. Sophomore Landon Power made it to the second day of Lincoln Douglas debate and the duo of sophomores Ben Anderson and Anderson Rogers made it to the second day in Public Forum.
The third style of debate is called Congress. This is when students debate over hypothetical legislation in a setting with many other students. The national qualifying meet for this style was Saturday March 17, at Millard South High School.
There were two houses of debate and one senate. The only differences between the two is that the top two finishers in the senate qualify for nationals, while only the winner moves on in the houses.
In the senate junior Lucy Nielsen earned third place, making her first alternate to nationals. In house to freshman Linnea Howie was morning presiding officer. This means that she essentially ran the debate. Sophomore Chase Johnson got second in this house, also making him a first alternate to nationals.
State for all three styles will be held March 23-24 at Lincoln Southwest High School. There will be 15 HHS students attending in various divisions.
However, none of these spots are easy to come by. Debate coach Delta Fajardo keeps track of the debaters’ progress throughout the year and chooses based on a system of who will be able to compete.
“Students have to win awards throughout the year to be eligible. If I have extra spots, then those who did not earn awards do an mock tournament to fight for the open spots. It is a ranked situation as well. Say I have two students who have gotten two awards. Whoever got the higher ranked awards takes precedence,” Fajardo said.
Students have been hard at work getting ready for these large tournaments all year.
Junior Saylor Pershing has competed in both Public Forum and Congress Debate this year, and prepares for them each differently.
“For Public Forum debate I looked up as much information as I could find on the topic we have so I have a good understanding of it. I use the information I find in both my cases and as attacks against other teams. For Congress, I have been trying to write as many speeches as possible over as many topics as possible. I also have practiced reading speeches and recorded myself doing so to improve my public speaking skills,” Pershing said.
Other competitors take a different approach. Senior Kai Anderson is only in his first year of debate, but he has quickly picked up the best way for him and Public Forum partner sophomore Hannah Tunks to complete their cases.
“Hannah and I do a lot of our writing shortly before the tournament, but she and I have been working hard on improving our debate skills for state,” Anderson said.
Fajardo also makes sure the classes get plenty of practice rounds in before the most important tournaments of the year by having a mock tournament on February 24th.
“I’ve been going over my cases and making sure I have the evidence I need. We’ve been doing some practice rounds as well to make sure we are ready,” senior Lincoln Douglas debater Alex Ceperley said.
Amongst all of the seriousness of debate, students still find time to enjoy the company of their teammates.
“I’m also excited to have more team bondings since we will all be less stressed and less busy,” Pershing said.
