Debate students competed at the district competition that took place at Lake Ridge on Feb 1. After the results, two policy debate teams advanced to the state competition held before spring break. Sophomore Tala Abdulrazeq advanced after arguing her case with her partner, sophomore Izabelle Guerra.
“You don’t know what’s coming; it’s kind of like you’re going in blind,” Abdulrazeq said. “I had to get over being so afraid of just stepping in there and having no idea what I’m gonna face, going in with a blind eye was probably the hardest part.”
The state debate competition consists of a variety of participants from different regions around the state.
“Going to state, there’s gonna be hundreds of groups debating,” Abdulrazeq said. “I have no idea what I’m gonna be up against or the levels that I’m gonna be up against, so that makes me a little nervous to go.”
Going to state allows Abdulrazeq to experience a large-scale competition.
“I wanted to advance because I thought it would be a good experience for me,” Abdulrazeq said. “I thought it would kind of help me not only in debate, but in communication overall by just getting over my fears and just pushing forward and trying something outside of my comfort zone.”
When competing, each student runs through their case before the competition to prepare their information. Abdulrazeq’s affirmative case covers Pharma, a policy that she argues against, that oversees the development and regulation of medications of a health care system.
“The easiest part of competing is probably the preparedness you have,” Abdulrazeq said. “Whenever you have your own case, whenever you’re going up there, you know what you’re gonna say, and you can anticipate answers and whatnot. I think that’s the easiest part.”
Sophomore Sofia House competed at the UIL district competition at Lake Ridge. From her perspective, debate allows her to understand both sides of the story and have an unbiased view on certain political policies.
“[Debate] allows me to be able to know both sides, and not necessarily choose a side, but know the good and bads about certain policies that are being passed,” House said. “Since I do policy debate, it lets me know a lot about the political world and be more knowledgeable about the actual facts that are happening with that.”
Debate allows students to learn responsibility and preparedness before competing. Guerra believes a student should prepare ahead of time.
“I think as long as you’re prepared, then you’re fine,” Guerra said. “You just need to know every possible outcome, and as long as you know that, then you’re set.”
Competitors prepare by running their gathered evidence that they will use to argue their cases. Guerra plans to run her affirmative, Pharma, with Abdulrazeq at the state competition.
“I mostly just prepped. Debate was my focus, my prioritized extracurricular,” Guerra said. “We had used that affirmative for our most recent competition, so I was very familiar with what we were gonna run. Then at the past two practices before district, Mr. Stewart went over everything with us, and we went over every single possible thing we could have run and had to deal with any sort of situation.”
Guerra practices after school on Thursdays every week to understand her material to the best ability.
“I like to win. If I’m gonna put all my time and effort into something, I want to see good results,” Guerra said. “If I’m actively spending an hour of my time after school every Thursday and I’m prepping on my own time that I could be doing other things, then I want to see good results. I want to advance.”
While debate allows students to use their critical thinking skills, it also benefits them by growing their ability to communicate with others.
“I definitely stayed in my own little bubble–my own circle of friends, and so I think debates helped me become more outgoing and better at communicating,” Guerra said. “I think debate has allowed me to slow down and really be more precise with what I’m saying. It’s great for critical thinking and being quick on your feet, so that also helps.”
As they build on their communication skills, students in debate expand their social circle more by branching out to other people. For Abdulrazeq, debate provides a comfortable community where she can express her interests.
“Debate impacts me because I’ve created a community of people that I can talk to about it, like a newfound interest of mine, and so I find it really fun and really interesting,” Abdulrazeq said. “It’s impacted me in every way, in speaking and being able to think quickly on my feet, in building communities, making friends. I love it.”
