By Victor Chao
Debating, the art of structured yelling. The best way to release all of your pent up frustration. With a variety of different formats, and an endless amount of topics, debate gives students the chance to argue with other participants about issues that they are interested in, all through a highly competitive environment. The most popular format, and the format of choice in The Woodlands Debate Club, is British Parliamentary, which consists of four teams who not only have to prove why the other side is wrong, but also how their arguments differentiate from the other half of their side.
The Woodlands Debate Club meets every Friday after school, where participants learn about the rules and procedures of debate, as well as strategies and background knowledge needed in order to win a debate round. The second half of these weekly meetings will always consist of actual organized rounds, where participants can gain experience debating against peers on a vast variety of topics, and gaining valuable feedback from the trainers.
The Debate Club also takes part in several tournaments throughout the year; sending debaters to partake in two or three days of fierce competition against other high schools. The Woodlands debate team has a history of success throughout these tournaments, winning several of these competitions and gaining notable runner-up positions for several more. This year, Woodlands has participated in three large tournaments so far: the Western high schools, the McGill high schools, and the Upper Canada College Pro-Am tournament (UCC). In these tournaments, the Woodlands debaters worked hard and competed through five rounds of debate, and if eligible, semi finals and finals. In the end of the day, Amy Zaharia earned 12th overall speaker at McGill, while James Yang earned 4th overall speaker at Western and 3rd overall speaker at UCC. An activity that is as fun as it is competitive, debate at The Woodlands is something for everyone.
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