Debate competes in last tournament of the semester

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Debate competes in last tournament of the semester
Hillsdale Debate team finishes semester strong | Wikimedia Commons

The Hillsdale Debate Team made it to the quarterfinals of the Bearcat Classic tournament at McKendree University this past weekend, facing schools up to 20 times the size of Hillsdale.

“This season our team has been successful at making sure at least several of our teams have winning records and make it to the final rounds of the tournament,” team accountant and senior Benjamin Beis said. “This has been both an individual and team effort, as we tend to prepare our arguments and collaborate on strategies together.”

The 15 members of the team have competed digitally in both one-on-one or the International Public Debate Association and partner style or National Parliamentary Debate Association competitions in four tournaments this year. 

“IPDA tends to be much more accessible, sort of a common-sense debate, while NPDA tends to be a little faster, a little more technical debate,” team coach and Hillsdale Debate team alumni Blake Faulkner ’12 said. 

In its second competition of the season, the team received first place in the overall sweepstakes award at Bowling Green State. In the third tournament, team captain and senior Tavio Pela received first place in IPDA debate. 

“Tavio is really good at helping teach the new people what they need to learn about how to succeed in a debate,” senior team member Frankie Vitale said. “He is good at organizing people and is a very approachable leader for us.”

In both forms, students receive a proposition and are allotted 20 to 30 minutes to prepare to debate for 45 minutes. 

“We practice by having everyone debate resolutions like those once a week,” Faulkner said. “We have to constantly keep up with the news and the current arguments in the news cycle.” 

Faulkner said debate is more centered on argumentation than content. 

“Debate is not about what you’re debating on, but how you’re debating it,” he said. 

Beis said he practices once a week. 

“The best way to get good at debate is to do the activity; sitting around studying the theory in the abstract does little to help one argue better in practice,” he said. “The best way to learn debate is by doing debate.”

This year, the team contains four novices. 

“Several of them have won speaker awards, where you get points on how good of a speaker you are,” Faulkner said. 

Beis, who is graduating at the end of this semester, said debate has been an integral part of his time at Hillsdale. 

“The highlight of the season has been winning debates on arguments that I have researched and come across on my own time,” he said. “It really gives you a thrill when the one argument that you need to help you win a debate is something that you listened to in an Economist podcast or read in a policy report that you happened to read because it interested you.” 

Next semester, the team will compete in two national tournaments. Beis said he is proud to see his team succeed. 

“Certain arguments can become like little debate children to you, so when you share those arguments with your teammates and they win a debate round with the arguments, it gives you a feeling of pride akin to what a parent experiences when their children accomplish great things,” he said.