Buffalo debaters talk immigration

Jordan Koerperich  

Sugar Beet staff reporter 

The debate team has locked horns preparing for the upcoming season. The Garden City High School debate teams season is fast approaching with the first tournament on Sept. 14 in Washburn Rural. In Debate a team is comprised of a pair of debaters vs. another pair in a round. Trever Southern, senior in the red academy, is one of the advanced varsity class debaters on the team. 

“So far the debate team has studied general immigration law past and present,” Southern said, “sociopolitical norms in the status quo and key demographics likely to be encountered in the novice and varsity divisions in different parts of the state. I’d have to say Caitlyn Harmon is our star debater, she industrious and quick witted with an excellent track record. Collectively we’ve been hard at work preparing strategies, doing background research and file work with dozens of hours of research and we’ve gone through thousands of files of different strategies so yeah I think we are team ready. Our strongest asset has to be background knowledge and raw on the fly critical thinking skills. We have a smart squad that’s done the erase arch and knows how to apply it. We need to work on the early season nerves and team dynamic but that will come with time.” 

Debate requires huge amounts of time for research and preparation if a team even wants to come close to winning a state championship. Garden City High School has a history of success winning state championships in 1959, 1961, 1962 and 1971. Caitlyn Harmon, senior in the yellow academy, is also on the advanced varsity class for the debate team. 

“I feel like we’re getting more and more ready each day.” Harmon said, “Right now the advanced varsity class is working on files for the novices (first years) and the rest of the team to use at tournaments. Some of our strongest assets are the third and fourth year debaters who put in the effort and helped the first and second years adjust. A few things to work on are a bit of nerves of the coming season but once we get to competing it will subside. We also need to work on the dynamic of our partnerships to make sure we can perform at our best.” 

For anyone wanting to see the debate team in action they are having a total of 23 tournaments all over the state. Garden City High School will be hosting the 5A and 6A state debate tournament on Jan. 11-12. Russ Tidwell is the head coach of the Garden City Debate team 

“The debate team is very young this year,” Tidwell said, “we are looking forward to rebuilding our team over the next year or two. We will be talking about immigration which is exciting because of the culture and diversity of Garden City.” 

Jordan Koerperich is a trade and health academy junior you can contact him at koerperichj@student.gckschools.com.