The debate club is one of North’s hidden treasures sponsored by Mrs.Combs, the AP U.S. history and government teacher. Started by senior, Alya Illenbiluan, the debate club comprises a diverse group of students, accepting anyone from ninth to twelfth grade. The main focus of the debate club is to debate over various topics regarding issues in America.
This is North’s first time in years of having a debate club, and Illenbiluan saw the opportunity to create one. As the upstanding president of the club, Illenbiluan leads the debate process. She makes sure teams are equal and prepared to be on the floor for discussion. From previous experience with a rigorous renowned debate club, she applied her skills to this year’s team.
When asked why she restarted the debate club, she responded, “Not only did I want to reinstate debate club, but to make it more welcoming for newbies,” she also states that the reason for such emphasis on the structure of each debate was to, “…focus more on the technical aspects” because, “I wanted to teach people how to debate properly, to potentially compete on a team.”
Currently, the debate club focuses on debating issues regarding high school students such as Michelle Obama’s school lunches, however, Illenbilum hopes to aspire beyond high school issues and onto experiences outside of school.
The rules of debate follow a specific formula for an optimum talk-through. During meetings on the first Monday of every month, members gather together to review the rules, structure, and future topics. Typically in these meetings, a topic is chosen, after which two stances on the issue are presented. After which, anytime before the debate, members are to research their topic, develop their arguments, and prepare rebuttals.
On debate day, the first speaker on the Affirmative team, speaks to support the topic, and following the Opposing team speaks to oppose the topic. Each side then takes turns to respond to each other’s questions and areas of conflict. Such back-and-forth discussion goes on for two to five minutes each. During this, judges decide which side wins the debate, which they announce at the end. At closing, each team formally thank each other for the debate and receive constructive feedback from the judges.
A junior on the team, Kaitlyn Vera states why she joined the team, “I joined debate club because I just really wanted to build my public speaking and debate skills.” Vera also gives reasons as to why debate club, in general, is appealing, “I like how we are given the opportunity to research topics you wouldn’t really think about researching, it is a very creative group. It’s great to be a part of something that’s starting up, and hopefully, in a few years we will be able to compete as a team.” This is also a sentiment, Illenbium holds as well for the future of the team, “Even though I am a senior this year, when I made this club, I had the idea of it eventually growing to be in a team one day, competing against other schools.” The club’s next meeting will be a debate on Friday the 19th.
