Debate Team Takes 2nd at Regionals

The FCHS Debate team finished second overall at the regional competition at Turner Ashby High School on March 18.

Nine schools, including Fluvanna, competed for nine hours in multiple categories. These included Public Forum, which centers on current events and relies on logic and evidence to construct arguments; Lincoln Douglas, a competitive speaking activity where two debaters argue for and against a resolution picked by the National Forensics League (NFL); and Policy and Student Congress Debate, where students emulate United States Congress members by debating pieces of legislation.

The following students qualified for Super Regionals:

Emma Pittman and Kylie Phillips – 1st in Policy
Ryleigh Money and Madelyn Grout – 3rd in Policy
Jackson Kinsella – 2nd in Student Congress
Austin Feith and Reese Yowell – Qualifiers for Student Congress
Andrew Jamison – 3rd in Lincoln Douglass
Tinsley Porter and Arianna Grier – Alternates for Public Forum
Matt Gresham – Alternative for Student Congress

“Student Congress is like a session of US Congress. We have the parliamentary, who basically judges the way we act. Then we elect one of the fellow congress members to be a presiding officer who basically oversees the flow of our debate. Then we set the docket, which goes in the order of Domestic (US issues), International (World issues), Economic (Economic issues), and Virginia (Local issues). After the docket is set, then we get to debate,” he said.

Senior Jackson Kinsella, who also competes in Student Congress, explaned more about his category. “Everyone competes at the same time, rather than a typical one-on-one debate, so it’s all about working as a team or a chamber with a different school to advance a goal. You are judged on your speeches and your procedure. You are also questioned at the end of each speech by the entire chamber in a sort of ‘cross examination’. The most important part of competing in Regionals, with regards to the team as a whole, is making sure we have the prep you need to succeed. No prep means no results, so we work really hard before competitions to make sure that you can be ready to compete,” said Jackson.

Super Regionals will be held April 1 at Turner Ashby.