The debate team is preparing for the upcoming 2023-24 season, in which they hope to be nationally competitive. During the summer, many students in the debate program attended programs at the University of Michigan and Georgetown University. The debaters sat through lectures, practiced debates, and researched this year’s topic in order to prepare for the season ahead.
This year’s topic for policy debate is about fiscal redistribution, which is the creation of federal tax and transfer programs. The debates revolve around increases in tax, which are then used by expanding Social Security, creating a job guarantee, or creating a basic income.
The debate team started their season with the Greenhill Fall Classic on Sept. 15-18, which was a strong regional tournament for the team to test out their skills before the Heart of Texas Invitational hosted by St. Mark’s on Oct. 13-15. This tournament will be another big tournament for the team to compete in with teams from out of state.
The end goal for the team is to qualify for and compete in the National Debate Coaches Association Tournament, which takes place at the University of Indiana from June 12-15.
Head debate coach Tim Mahoney hopes that his teams will be able to compete in the national competition. Four of the school’s teams qualified for the national competition last season, and all of those students are returning this year. In addition to the teams that qualified last year, two sophomore teams and three other junior teams have a good chance to be nationally competitive this year.
