West Potomac Wire

Debate team sponsor Julian Dotson awaits the results of the Virginia state debate team competition

Megan Haley

Reporter

 “Debate is the art of being able to ague and analyze issues from both sides and effectively convince your opponent that you are right,” said debate teacher and coach Julian Dotson.  The debate team does just that, in practice and formal competitions that they frequently attend.

   The team consists of about 40 people, of which about 20 take the class and the rest are a part of it as a school club.  Whether in the class or not, any member of the team who qualifies is allowed to compete on the state and national level.  Dotson picks from the best debaters and forms his competition team.  While every member has an equal opportunity to qualify, only the best are selected.  According to Dotson good debaters are above all coachable, but also have an innate sense of judgment to look at a problem and immediately know what to argue.  They are willing to research heavily, have self-confidence, the ability to sound or look intimidating, are quick-witted, and already do well in school.

     “I joined the debate team because I like communications and I feel strongly about a lot of issues, also I really like arguing and I’m pretty good at it,” said senior Hussein Fahema, an active member of the team and the class.  “My most memorable debate was probably the one at UVA last weekend, there were like these uber-debaters who spoke a million miles a minute.  It was amazing,” said Fahema.

   In addition to tri-monthly competitions, the team also competes in the VHSL league once a month beginning in February every year. Three times a month starting in September the team goes to area debates and competes with high schools in Virginia, from close by to as far as the Shenandoah Valley (about two and half hours away).  So far this year the team has qualified for, and attended the state meet on January 23^rd, the team came in 1^st place overall for the year and 2^nd place for large schools at the competition.

     The team members won numerous individual awards at states as well, including, senior Frank Maldonado’s 6^th place finish in Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking.  Other awards comprised of, junior Katie Trimper and senior Ashley Irastorza finished 5^th in the Policy finals and junior James Lewis qualified for the semi-finals in Domestic Extemporaneous speaking.  Also senior Shayana Oakley qualified for the National Tournament in Serious Dramatic Forensics, which will take place during the week of June 14-19.  As said by Fahema, Serious Dramatic Forensics is like acting where one plays all the characters, and it is dramatic and pretty entertaining.   “I got to sit in on her one of her competitions and she did amazing,” said Fahema concerning his teammate’s performance.

     “I first joined [the team] because I like to argue, but once I go there I heard about forensics, which is like acting, and I like that even more,” said Oakley.  Since national competition is the same week as graduation Oakley said, “I’m hoping they’ll change the date of either the competition or graduation so I can go to both.”  However since neither scenario is likely, it will quite a decision for Oakley to make.