About 150 students from 10 schools throughout Southern California spent the day at St. Margaret’s on Saturday, participating in the High School Public Debate Program. Teams of three students each faced off in four, 34-minute debates throughout the day, discussing complex topics such as national sales tax, voting age, and the possibility of state succession.

 

Coached by Upper School English teacher Kimberly Kim, St. Margaret’s eight teams performed very well. Senior Tyler Ashman walked away with a 2^nd place speaker award. Joining him as top speakers were seniors Tyler Genevay (4^th place), Johnathan Acosta (10^th place), and Colby Rogers (11^th place). The senior team of Ashman, Genevay, and Rogers won 5^th place team overall and the two-person team of junior Aaron Garfinkle and sophomore Alex Kratzer pulled an 11^th-place finish. As a school St. Margaret’s won a 2nd place trophy for the most team wins.

 

“I was incredibly excited to see teams of freshmen and sophomores not only bringing in impressive speaker scores and team wins, but coming back from a debate round genuinely excited for the topics, regardless of the win or the loss,” Tyler Ashman said.

 

Tyler and the other members of the St. Margaret’s debate club work hard to prepare for the tournaments. Throughout the school year, they practice once a week at lunchtime and the weeks before each tournament, they also attend practices after school, sharing research on the issues and holding mock debates.

 

Ms. Kim coaches the debate team of more than 30 Upper School students, and the team participates in six debates a year. The team is assisted by librarian Darla Magaña and parents who volunteer their time to help students research and judge debates. 

 

The debate students practice speaking and critical thinking, learn about important issues and build friendships.

 

“Debate has taught me important life skills that I just hadn’t learned from my academic classes, such as public speaking, the ability to objectively argue political, cultural, and educational issues that are affecting our country,” senior Makenna Mitchell said.