When most people think of debate, they imagine dull discussions about topics already debated ad nauseam. In reality, debate is often a deeply passionate and exciting experience with lots to offer outside the classroom.
Participating on the FCHS Debate team means being exposed to and learning how to discuss unique and interesting topics that, in some cases, participants get to produce themselves. Students get the opportunity to be creative with their topics, encouraging and teaching debaters to think outside of the box and approach subjects from various perspectives to build unique arguments.
The stereotype of debate taking up all of a student’s time is a common misconception, and it can make some students hesitant to join this extracurricular activity. However, many students who do debate often do other sports as well, proving this stereotype wrong.
“It’s work, but it’s rewarding work. Debate has benefitted my teambuilding skills and understanding of how others think,” said senior Liam Newberry.
Students planning to go to college often start to immerse themselves in extracurricular activities and harder classes that look good on their transcripts. Debate is one example of this. Many individuals who come through the door at the interest meets are looking for an extracurricular that colleges search for on resumes.
“Debate looks good on college applications as well as helping with college prep, and it’s definitely helpful practice for preparing job and college interviews,” said History teacher and Debate Coach Luke Divine who is going on his seventh year of coaching the team.
Some team members say that it is usually harder to convince a person to join debate rather than to keep them in debate. The activity may seem intimidating to many students, but once participants get the hang of it, they see that there are more benefits to the extracurricular other than how it catches colleges’ eyes on applications. Some members with a first language other than English say that it has helped with their understanding of the language.
“It has improved my English and writing exponentially. When I first started debating, my English had a lot of room for improvement. Though during and after the season, I noticed it was easier to find the words I was looking for and writing essays became much easier,” said junior Marianna Dimagnaong, who is in her second year of participating.
If you could not make it to the interest meeting, it is not too late to join. Contact the coach, Luke Divine, at [email protected]. The team’s first tournament is in October and runs until April.
