A new year brings with it a new season of Middle School debate! The first two tournaments of the season were great successes, with more than 200 students participating in the tournaments at Washburn High School and Clara Barton Open School.

At both tournaments, the debaters quickly filled cafeterias and the tables were soon strewn with pages and pages of highlighted articles and arguments. After collecting snacks of granola bars and juice provided by the MNUDL, each debate team would cluster tightly together and pour over their notes, chattering about debate strategy, plans for arguing Affirmative or Negative positions, and which skilled opposing teams to watch out for.

At the tournament at Clara Barton on Tuesday, the award ceremony brought with it applause and wild cheers from the assembled Middle School debaters as, one by one, the awards for teams and individual speakes were announced. The students would rise from their seats as their names were called, big smiles on their faces, and either dash through their peers to receive their award, or carefully descend the big stairs as more names were announced and the cheering continued.

It is a delight to see the students celebrating each other’s accomplishments. They have all worked hard preparing for this debate season and debated with skill and passion.

The next tournament will take place on Wednesday, January 20th, at Highland Park, and our Middle School debaters need volunteer Judges for their rounds.

If you would like to use your knowledge to help provide our Middle School debaters with fair and constructive judging and feedback, we would love to have you volunteer as a judge.

You can sign up HERE.

To learn more about volunteering opportunities, contact Monica Finke at finkem@augsburg.edu.