Debate Club, which was started late last school year, is becoming more developed, and the team wants people to know about it.

The advisor of this club is Ms. Smith, one of our social studies and psychology teachers. The school and she wanted to offer debate because the Wisconsin Interscholastic Speed & Dramatic Arts Association, the group that our forensics team runs under, also includes debate in membership. They also offer theatre events that Menomonie used to participate in, but since stopped. Ms. Smith hopes that the theatre program would maybe bring back the theatre component. But as for debate, it is now being offered to give more opportunities to students.

Competitions are run online through Zoom video calls in two different rounds. One is Impromptu, where students have an hour to prepare speeches and arguments before the competition against the other team starts. The second round is called Prepared, which is a debate on a topic that has been known to the students for two weeks, but they do not know which side they are arguing for. During the night of the competition, there are only 15 minutes for the teams to prepare after knowing which side they will be arguing. The winner of the debates is decided by a judge who will critique the performances.

Ms. Smith has some goals for the season, even with the team being new. She said, “Our goals are to successfully compete in four or five live, online debates with other schools and win some of those debates.” The team also hopes to participate in the State Debate event at UW-Madison in April.

Debate Team Member Brianna Klimek described why joined the debate club, “I really enjoy trying to get my point across and being persuasive.” She also added that she started enjoying debate after the debates during her sophomore year in English class. Bri suggested that even if you are a busy and committed student, you can still participate in debate by going to meetings when you can. She hopes to improve on how she did last year and develop her skills in debate.

If students are interested in joining and working on your public speaking skills, they should reach out to Ms. Smith. The first few meetings have already happened, but anyone is still welcome to join. As for meetings, they are on Tuesdays from 3:45 to 4:30, along with competitions held after school. The first debate of the season is on October 30th.