On Saturday, Sept. 17, from 8:15 a.m. to 4:15, the Congressional Debate team went to Hersey High School for the Congressional Debate tournament with about 30 other schools.

Central’s debate team earned second place overall and several of the Congressional Debate members won individual awards during the award ceremony after debate.

Over 700 students were sorted into various classroom chambers of 16 to 20 people, which were divided by a novice level and varsity level.

Each chamber selected about 6 out of 12 Congress bills to debate, and each student would present an argument individually, followed by a questioning session. Students are scored by their presentation and questions by judges. Students who earned the highest score in each chamber won an individual award for best debater.

Another award includes one for best presiding officer. Each chamber includes a presiding officer, a student who oversees the debate and calls for recesses (short breaks). After the debates, students vote on who served their role as the presiding officer best. Several students from Central’s debate team earned this award.

Although the debate chambers are organized the same way, novice and varsity chambers are very different in atmosphere. Nicole Angell, the Congressional Debate team’s captain, said that “Novice chambers are for first-time debaters,” thus their levels of understanding and questioning of the bills are generally amateur. She also described varsity chambers to be “more fast-paced with intense questioning, overall harder, and more competitive.”

However, even though novice chambers are less difficult than varsity, the former still carries quite some intensity. Catherine Bradley said, in her first experience in debate, “[During the questioning period], people used your wording against you.” She recalled making a speech using the phrase “military youth,” and challenges made against her argument questioned if she meant children.
Catherine also added that, “I was able to build on my speech skills.” She said that debaters only had a set of quotes and research data, while most of the presentation was made “on the fly,” which called for great improvisation.

Despite the intense competition, Congressional Debate members agree that the community is supportive and friendly.

Nicole said, “The best thing about [the debate team] is that you debate about current issues and learn about the world… But it is also a team effort. You work together to win awards. The team builds a family to succeed and support each other to become better, more aware citizens.”