February 4, 2012 at 6:24 a.m.
Debate team argues its way to the top
RHS team takes runner-up at state
Debate team argues its way to the top
Rhinelander's team took runner up in the novice and varsity policy debate divisions that centered upon one nationwide resolution, in which team members debated how the U.S. government should proceed in space exploration.
Debate is not just about getting up in front of people and arguing a point. It takes time and mental agility to prepare for months in advance in order to take on an opponent.
"We start in August and depending if we're on the affirmative or negative side we have to start researching," said team captain and senior Dan Meyer. "If we're affirmative we have to come up with a solution and reasoning, if we're negative we have to be able to argue against just about every possible solution the other team could have."
RHS was on the affirmative side, which junior Kayla Cook said is the side she likes best.
"You have to do so much research to develop your solution and then you have to be able to defend it," she said. "I like affirmative better because being on the negative side means you have to be willing to tell people off."
Cook said she and her partner, Meyer, have worked together all season on the same resolution, having to debate the same topic at all eight of their competitions. She said she enjoys the excitement of the events.
"You prepare for months and months so by the time you get to the competition you just want to get out there and do it and I like the rivalry between the teams," she said. "The most difficult part is adapting quickly to new arguments that you aren't prepared for and having to come up with an answer really fast."
Meyer said it's important, as a team, to be organized with all the research they bring. They must know where everything is and have it in easy reach.
"We take so much research with us and having to go through pages of information and having only five minutes to find it, it's important we know exactly how to find it."
Each debate is 74 minutes long, broken into segments, giving each team so much time for preparation and response arguments.
Debate coach and teacher Angela Schaffer said some teams come with large bins full of papers but she won't let her students go to the extremes.
"Some schools bring huge Rubbermaid's full of papers that they have to pull them around on carts," she said. "I told my students no, they take one smaller box with them because it's easier to find what they need but it also makes them have to be more prepared and be able to pull it off the top of their heads."
Most of the students on the debate team started in Schaffer's debate class and then take advanced debate where they have to then compete.
Meyer said he started as a sophomore and was having a hard time in the class until he participated in an actual debate.
"It was hard for me at first but when I participated in my first debate and had to put what I learned into action, when I came back the class made so much more sense to me," he said.
Both Cook and Meyer said debate is more than a class or a competition, but can be translated into other aspects of school and life.
"I now tend to take the devil's advocate role on issues, I'm not shy to speak my mind in class and it makes me talk faster, read faster and reason faster," Cook said. "It helped a lot on my ACT, especially on the writing portion, because I was able to reason both sides of whatever issue it was, very easily."
"I'm taking a college course right now in the fundamentals of speech and having my debate experience has helped me so much in that class," Meyer said. "It helps with critical thinking and analyzing problems very quickly."
This year, the debate team took part in a different type of event called public forum debate where the subject changes every month and the debater must be able to reason both sides of the issue.
Meyer said he took to public forum debate quickly and said it takes a different type of debating than he was used to.
"You have to be able to debate both sides but it helps you to understand the other side and you have to have an open mind," he said. "The most difficult thing I think I've had to face is having to debate issues I don't necessarily believe and then have to argue for it, but it's good to understand both sides of the issues."
During one season, the 32 debate team students travel to eight, two-day competitions, usually in the Madison or Milwaukee areas. They took 18 students to the state competition and with a combination of scores from the novice and varsity teams, the RHS team came home with second place.
Schaffer said even though they did not place in public forum debate, she is hopeful their team will continue to improve.
"This is the first year we seriously prepared for public forum and I think we did exceptionally well," she said. "We hope to be even more prepared next year and I'm confident we will do well."
The debate team must fundraise all year long since each season depletes their funds from having to travel so far and stay in hotels for every event.
Rhinelander is the northern most team competing in the Wisconsin Debate Coaches Association (WDCA).
Cook said she enjoys going to the events and being a part of the debate team but thinks students, faculty and community members just don't see debate team as being an important school activity.
"We go to state every year and do really well and very few people seem to notice and we feel that," she said. "Everyone thinks we aren't as important because we're not an athletic team but what we do takes immense skill because we can do things most people can't."
Monica Baltich may be reached at [email protected].
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