PCHS Debaters Preparing For a Successful Year

With a stronger program than ever before, Park City High School debate club is thriving after placing second against several schools and expecting more successes to come in the upcoming future at the Beehive Bonanza in early October.

Park City High School’s talented debaters traveled to University of Utah to participate in their first competition this season. Juniors Max O’Reilly and Jack Engel won first place in public forum and juniors Will Efrusy and Thomas Perret will advance to semifinals. Sophomore Carly McAleer made it to ottos in Lincoln Douglas, and Grant Murray broke in his speech event.

After scoring second place, one point behind Hawaii, Assistant Coach Anna Williams is proud of this years students. 

“There are several kids on our public forum teams who I think can possibly make it to the Tournament of Champions,” said Williams, who believes the tournament is the most prestigious debate competition in the nation.

Their next tournament will be held at Dixie State University in Saint George. With it being the first overnight tournament of the season, senior Ryan Gilbert, public relations director, believes it’s a chance for advanced debaters to practice their techniques.

“For varsity and advanced students, it’s more of a place where we can experiment with more outlandish cases,” said Gilbert.

He also believes it’s a great opportunity for novice students to become more comfortable with tournaments requiring an overnight stay.

“It shows how they’re supposed to conduct themselves and represent Park City High School,” said Gilbert.

One of the main purposes of the Dixie tournament is to prepare newer debate students for out of state tournaments, where competition is harder and they may feel more overwhelmed. However, this can be some of the best experience a debater can get. 

With stronger competition, the debaters often feel more inclined to try their hardest and do the best they can. This pushes them to become better.

However, not enough students signed up for the Young Lawyers tournament, leading them to cancel their participation.

In order to raise money, the debate team to hold an open mic fundraiser at O’Shucks in Pinebrook held Oct 28. Hoping to spread awareness for debate, some students involved in the club will sing, speak, or play an instrument. Money raised will go to offer scholarships for debaters who earn them. They are hoping to see you there!

Talented students are often held back from joining debate club because of the fear of public speaking. Some students believe it comes naturally to them.

“I’ve never really been afraid of it,” said Gilbert.

However, senior Zachary Primo, team captain and involved in debate club for the past four years, is still not confident while speaking in front of others.

“It’s just inherently uncomfortable talking in front of a large group of people,” said Primo. “You have to become comfortable with discomfort and through persevering you become more comfortable and that allows you to sort of forget about the public speaking aspect and really focus on what you’re saying and content.”

Preparing for a debate requires a lot of time and preparation. Generally, students will research, draft cases, plan strategies, frontlineopponents answers, and attempt to think out any possible scenarios. This keeps them busy in between each tournament, which is usually every two weeks. According to Ryan Gilbert, how much time you spend on your cases can determine your success.

“There’s two ways you can go about doing it. You can either just be very naturally articulate, or you can just work really hard. You can be successful in debate if you just want to spend a few hours a week doing it,” said Gilbert, who admits to spending 15-20 hours per week on all things debate. 

Debate is split into two different skill levels, novice and varsity. Similar to many other activities, it is essentially junior varsity and varsity. This allows students involved to receive a varsity letter from speech and debate. Demonstrating your extraordinary skills and abilities, the varsity letter can be used for college applications and future job opportunities for extra credibility.

Debate students use this to work harder by having a lifelong beneficial goal.