Because students have mistaken the Clark Forensics team for a forensics science class over the past several years, Ms. Brown, the coach, renamed the club Speech and Debate.

 

After the renaming, the class participation doubled that of previous years, and for the first time, there are two different Speech and Debate class periods. According to Shane Cashin, president, it’s a team effort, which seems to radiate to new members.

 

The first day of competition allowed novices to try their events with no risk of placing. Varsity debaters from the Clark team, like Ian Macato and Sabrina Wang, judged these rounds. The second day featured the “real” debate, where round scores and tabulations contributed to competitors’ records for potential placing.

 

More than a dozen people competed from Clark High School, and some previous alumni or members that did not compete came to visit and cheer the team on. Ian Macato, captain of Public Forum debate, stated that although it’s a competition, it’s fun for the entire team.

 

Clark participated in Lincoln Douglas and Public Forum debates. Dozens of schools throughout the Las Vegas Valley also competed.

 

Lincoln Douglas featured a single debater focusing on political moral issues, whereas Public Forum featured pair debaters focusing on evidence-based social and national security issues.

 

Each debater competed in four different rounds that determined his or her place within the competition.

 

BrittniTeresi, who came to visit, mentioned, “Everyone on our team did a great job. It was so much fun just to be with everyone and to be the one watching the nerves for once; it was even better to see our team exceed though.”

 

In between debate rounds, most of the team and members of others played games like Black Magic and Heads Up, dramatic talkative charades games.

 

Someone on another team said, “I’ve never seen everyone on a team participate in something together before, it’s so cool,” as he played Heads Up.

 

Although there was a lot of fun and games, the team was just as serious about its debates. The team covered mandatory voting, civil disobedience, and nuclear proliferation threats.

 

Andrew Kaplan and Travis Anderson placed 3rd in Junior Varsity Public Forum, and Deepal Patel and Kyle Prerost, placed 1st Varsity Public Forum.

 

Many others came to close to placing and hope to in the future. After the tournament, some of the team went out to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner to talk about their fourteen-hour day.

 

Clark will compete in larger tournaments in October and November at Foothill and Spring Valley High Schools. Competitors look forward to more speaking success.