After winning the state title for the second consecutive year, the 2011-2012 Jesuit Debate Team is working hard to prepare for one of the most interesting topics ever chosen. Each year, for cross-examination debate, a special committee chooses the new topic to be argued that year. This year, the resolution states that, “The United States federal government should substantially increase its exploration and/or development of space beyond the Earth’s mesosphere.”
For readers with minimal knowledge of debate, it works a little like this:
• Each round, one team of two debaters is given the position of supporting the resolution, or in this case increasing the exploration or development in space.
• The other team is given the position of defending the status quo, or arguing the negative aspects of exploring space. But, with such a vague resolution, hundreds of different ways to explore space could be formulated.
Because this topic will produce many unheard of arguments, debaters will have to think on their feet, creating arguments in the 8 total minutes of preparation time between speeches.
Jeff Melsheimer ‘14, a first year Varsity debater, elaborated on his surprisingly simple approach, saying, “We have to pick the arguments we like, pick the best arguments we can go for and really personalize them. You always have a basic strategy no matter the wide range [of arguments.] You have to go with what you know, and really debate how you want to debate.”
Led by debate geniuses Mr. Dan Lingel and Dr. Tracy McFarland, the Jesuit debaters have been practicing every day after school for an hour and a half. Practices mainly consist of doing mini-debates, creating new arguments, and researching evidence to support those arguments. In addition to that, debaters have been scrambling to organize the vast number of arguments into expand-folders to prepare for the tournaments they are attending.
With three senior debaters, two of whom were 2-time state champions, graduating last year, the debate team will definitely take on a new, younger look this upcoming year. The current Varsity team has three seniors, four juniors, and four sophomores. However, the varsity squad last year consisted of three debaters, with the others participating on the novice squad.
One of the returning Varsity debaters, Tanner Davis ‘13, is excited for the change in personnel: “With a younger squad, there is definitely new energy brought to the team, a new dynamic.”
Jesuit debate will be on the quest to “three-peat,” with high expectations and goals. Listed below are the current varsity partnerships for this year:
• James Mantil ’12 and Ryan Tan ’13
• Kevin Kim ’12 and Tanner Davis ‘13
• Harrison Ainsworth ’12, James Ferrara ‘14, and Justin Kang ’13
• Grant VanKirk ’13 and Jeff Melsheimer ’14
• James Abbott ’14 and Jackson Pyke ’14
For information on joining the debate team, or simply learning about debate in general, check out the debate home page on the Jesuit website.
