As Coach Ta-Neisha Marshall sits through another governing board meeting she discovers some life changing news. The news conflicts with the debate team and the new challenges that the team could come in contact with.
This year the debate team will collaborate with the theater program to make a combination of speaking and plays/poetry. The two teams will travel to many events that host both of the subjects and compete as a forensics team.
“I plan on entering these kinds of events and I am excited to team up with some of my friends that are in debate,” said senior Christy Dishong.
Dishong has been involved in theater for three years now and is now theater president. She discovered the desire for theater in the seventh grade. Dishong is excited with the new experience and is looking forward to this first year of the Har-Ber forensics team.
“The transitions are tough. We competed on the college level, and now it is like everything collapsed,” said Coach T. Marshall
Most people believe transition to be a hard process, and this is the wall that the debate team has run into this season. The I.P.D.A (International Public Debate Association) were the ones who made the switch. This was due to the high school students that competed at the colleges were a liability. Coach Marshall fought for the debate team to continue competition on the college level.
“You know that saying, ‘it is what it is?’ That is what we are dealing with.” Said Coach Marshall.
Despite the change, Coach Marshall is keeping a positive attitude. She will not change her teaching style, and there will still be the “NO excuses what so ever” policy.
“I’m so excited to dominate in several new categories. It’s a great opportunity to broaden our appeal,” said senior Abby Rice.
Rice has been on the debate team since she was a freshman. Her favorite part of debate is the fellowship and family aspect of the team. She enjoys watching kids grow into adults through debate. Competing against younger kids, Rice does not want to discourage them, because she knows that they are very clever and will learn fast. Rice is looking forward to helping them grow.
There are new programs that were added to debate this year. Student Congress is a new addition to the debate program. The debate team will propose a bill and go to the capitol to discuss it on the floor. College students will be the Congress, while high school students will be the House of Representatives.
“We are now the leaders for the I.P.D.A,” said Coach Marshall, “We need to be good advocates for the others in I.P.D.A.”
College debate consists of eight rounds, while high school debate is only four rounds. The team will be competing against people that may not have competed before. For the debate team, competing against college is not an advantage, and they will have to be gentle, because they are new to debate.
“We want to win, but we have to learn to win with humility and loose with grace,” said Coach Marshall.
