Great Bend High School’s debate team novices traveled to Garden City on Saturday for the opening weekend of the competitive speech season.
All aboard
The sleek white Panther Activity Bus pulled to a stop just before 5 a.m. Saturday morning. A large group of sleepy but excited young Panthers had gathered outside GBHS for the two-hour trek to Garden City for the opening weekend of the debate season. Fourteen novice debaters loaded their laptops and file boxes onto the bus and prepared to face their first policy debate competitors from Garden City, Dodge City, and Liberal, Hugoton and Ottawa.
Saturday evening, while a thunderstorm battered the city of Great Bend, our young debaters were battering the competition out west. By 7 p.m. Saturday evening, the storms had passed, and the Panther debate team returned home with a total record of 16 wins and 5 losses, and five of the top six places.
2022-23 National Debate Topic
“Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its security cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in one or more of the following areas: artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cybersecurity.”
The 2022-2023 National Debate Topic will have the students learning about emerging technologies and how these advances in artificial intelligence, bio-technology and cybersecurity may impact the United States’ involvement with NATO. The students will be researching how the world is rapidly changing and how the new technologies provide many risks and opportunities related to security for the United States and the other 29 NATO countries.
“The topic is very complicated, especially for the younger students. It really is almost two topics combined into one,” Coach Kim Heath said. “The learning curve for understanding emerging tech and global geo-politics has been pretty steep, and I am so proud of the debaters for the intense amount of work they have all put in during the first month of school.”
“Angels on their shoulders”
Each team debated five rounds, but in the first two rounds, they received help from the experienced debaters. This style of tournament, known as an “angel on your shoulder” experience, allows the students to get a feel for the flow of a debate round on both the affirmative and negative side without the pressure of being judged.
Serving as angels for the Panther debaters were seniors Alondra Alvarez, Maddix Pokorski and Xanna Smith, junior Thomas Henrikson and sophomores Analeah Ochs and Lea Nokes.
“Over and over again the debaters were commenting on how much they were learning from the older students,” Heath said. “Not only did it help strengthen our team unity and morale, but the experienced debaters also provided invaluable help to our novices.”
After the two opening “angel” rounds, the novices competed in three rounds without help, and the experienced students became judges.
Panthers dominate
Only four teams at the tournament posted a perfect 3-0 record on the day. And three of those teams were GBHS Panthers.
Freshmen Ellie Damm and Kaylee Haag were undefeated and earned perfect speaker points. They defeated teams from Liberal, Ottawa and Dodge City on their way to a first-place finish.
Senior Gavin Hirsh and freshman Hannah Hopkins were runner-up. They won all their rounds, beating teams from Ottawa, Hugoton and Garden City.
Freshmen Rhys Froetschner and Quinton Heath also were undefeated and finished in third place. They were victorious in debates with Liberal, Garden City and Dodge City.
Sophomore Anna Bitter and freshman Zachary Hart placed 5th overall. They beat Ottawa and Garden City but came up just short of defeating Liberal.
Sophomores Ailey Williams and Danica Cline had a loss against Garden City but came back with wins against a different Garden City team and a team from Dodge City to place 6th.
Sophomore Jay Creamer and junior Theo Hopkinson-Smith finished in 9th place with wins over teams from Garden and Dodge and a loss to Liberal.
Keaton Kruckenberg and Jennifer Palacio beat a team from Liberal but lost their rounds against Ottawa and Garden City.
“Having our novices win so many rounds as they learn the activity was a great way to start out the season. I’m looking forward to a fantastic year,” Heath said. “Of course, I am excited to have so many individual awards, but seeing the squad work together and support each other was the best part of the tournament. I am so proud of our team.”
On to Halstead, then home
Panther debate next travels to Halstead this Saturday, Sept. 24, in a contest featuring both novice and open divisions.
The squad will host its first home tournament on Oct. 1 at GBHS. Coach Heath welcomes anyone with an interest in debate, technology, or politics to volunteer as a judge.
“Judging debate may sound intimidating, but you really don’t need to have been a debater to be a good judge,” she said. “One of the most important skills we teach is learning to adjust to your audience. An open mind, and a willingness to help the kids develop their speaking and listening skills is all it takes to be a great judge.”
Anyone interested in judging for the Panther Debate tournament on Oct. 1 can contact Kim Heath by email at kim.heath@usd428.net.
