This past weekend the two day State Debate Tournament took place in Lyons, Kansas.

The two veteran HHS teams each went up against tough competition, and took several wins with a few close losses.

Each of the teams participated in six preliminary rounds, but unfortunately neither advanced into the finals.

The definition of debate can be misconstrued, and the team wants to clear it up.

Junior Madison Karlin has been a participating member of the debate team for the past three years, and knows that there is far more to debate then just arguing, like many are lead to believe.

“Debate is a lot more complicated than most people think,” Karlin said. ‘It’s not just a free-for-all argument, but has a strict structure with required argument types and requirements for everything from evidence sources and debates to speech length.”

In one round, Karlin explained, each of the four debaters gives a Construction Speech, a cross examination of the opponent’s speech, and one Rebuttal. Each of these acts is timed, and it is crucial that the time requirement is met.

“Rounds can get pretty lengthy, averaging at about an hour and a half,” Karlin said.

At first, Karlin’s parent told her to get involved in debate as a resume builder, but Karlin believe that her participating in debate has enhanced her public speaking skills among other skills.

“I’ve continued this far with it because I can see such an improvement in a lot of my own skills, like critical thinking and public speaking,” Karlin said.

Karlin does not plan on continuing with debate during senior year.

“I plan for this to be my last year because the time commitment is really a stretch for me,” Karlin said.

19kpotter@usd489.com