HHS Debate Continues a Successful Season

Hastings High School’s debate team has experienced great success on a national level this year. With a strong freshman class, the team looks to continue the success of the past under head coach Delta Fajardo.

Debate has been no stranger to success and victory. The team has had lots of individual success and shown depth at competitions.

“We’ve had at least six first places in every tournament except for this last one, which was kind of shocking. Every tournament we have had people take the top six spots in each competitive type that we do,” Fajardo said. “I think one of the most recent things I thought was really cool was Eva Maggie Arnaiz, who’s a freshman, did varsity at Lincoln Southeast. Thomas got first and she got second right underneath him, so a senior and a freshman. I was like, ‘that is just beautiful to see, truly beautiful to see.'”

Debate has expanded its horizon by entering in competitions outside of Nebraska, which are held through video calls.

“In fact, we’ve never competed outside of our state until this last year, maybe the year before. But really, this last year, we’ve started competing against Brooklyn in their Debate League. It’s very fun,” Fajardo said. “We do that every other Thursday, and we’ve been getting awards in that environment as well. Having that kind of experience has really, really helped them, instead of just working with Nebraska.”

Fajardo has seen changes to the debate team in recent years coming out of the pandemic. She has seen a major resurgence in the participation of debaters.

“I still think we’re coming off of what it was like for COVID. And so, I’m seeing a lot more participation now than I have seen since COVID,” Fajardo said. “We had a lot of people on the team. But I think we’d gotten out of the mentality of going to tournaments. And so there was a time where (Robert Thomas) was literally the only one competing. I had never had that happen before, and so now I’m getting a lot of people competing.”

A few debate members who have experience in debate outside of Nebraska are senior Thomas Roberts and freshman Mckenna Wheeler. Roberts is the president of the debate team and has been successful in previous years, including qualifying for nationals. 

“Thomas, obviously (is a stand-out debater) because he did go to Nationals. He’s a senior, and he’s the president of our team,” Fajardo said. “McKenna Wheeler has dedicated her whole life to debate, and she’s gone way out of her way. She actually works with people on a national scale and does work in the league area and has talked to other people outside of our state.”

Fajardo credits this year’s success to the hard work of the debate team.

“It’s the students. It’s really the students,” Fajardo said on the reason for debate’s success. “They have come into the school year with a whole different kind of mentality than previous years. I think a lot of people are wanting to work together more, and they’re pushing each other.”

For junior Camden Mullen, debate has been full of highs and lows, but his overall experience has been very positive.

“Personally, (the best part of debate is) all the people that are in here. I mean, I like debating, sure, but it’s nowhere near as fun if you don’t have the people,” Mullen said.

The Debate team is very young overall and looks to continue its success in the future.

“I’d say we’re definitely more successful than the previous years have been. We’ve had a great new generation in the freshman and sophomores. Some juniors and seniors are definitely refining their skills a lot more than they have previously,” Senior Dorlin Henley said.  

Debate is part of a group of activities offered as a class at HHS such as show choir, Tiger Cub, and the yearbook. Having debate as a class helps students have designated work time and help from Fajardo to take advantage of that they might not otherwise have consistent access to.

“I definitely think having it as a class is worth it because a lot of the other teams from the bigger schools are comparable to us in size, but that’s because they choose to be in debate as an after school club,” Mullen said. “Having us as a class definitely gives us more access to the school’s resources. Because we have the library open, we have more things available to us,” Mullen said.

Fajardo’s favorite part of being the Debate coach is helping her students make their voices heard. She has worked on learning more about the new Lincoln Douglas Debate style in order to help her students improve in that area.

“Honestly, it’s helping people get a voice. It’s helping people who are shy or have not really had an opportunity to stand up for things that, you know, for themselves. I think that’s the best part is helping people really find a way to express themselves and talk about what they believe in,” Fajardo said.

According to Fajardo, being in debate helps students to prepare for college and go into Government and Public Administration careers. Fajardo recommends people who like to read, research, and argue should go out for debate but there are no formal qualifications to join. 

“I would say that debate is for everybody. I’ve actually gotten kids on the wrestling team and on the football team. They’ve all come and they did fine during debate,” Henley said. “But, I mean honor kids and those kids that take higher level classes are more likely to do better in debate.”