The Debate Team Begins its Inaugural Season
Did you know that Archbishop Moeller High School has a debate team? It all started when Junior Alexander Kennedy had the vision of a Moeller debate team competing with other schools on various topics. Alexander emailed Mr. Hyzdu and requested that Moeller consider a local debate team. Mr.Hyzdu responded and agreed that this was a great idea and that Xander had his full support.
That’s when English teacher, Eric Eble, stepped up and decided to coach the team. Mr. Eble has a love for debate and is a supporter of the democratic process, so this coaching opportunity was a good fit for him. The Moeller students that are on the team include: Xander Kennedy, Zak Honsaker, Alex Breeze, Teddy Bissmeyer, Garret Poetker, Sam Clark, Jackson Dugan, Will Carty, Max Barcomb and Sean Hughes.
Picture of the Moeller Debate team. courtesy of Mr.Eble.
Recently, the Moeller debate team competed in the Notre Dame Academy Tourducken Tournament and brought back duck trophies for their outstanding performances. Junior Will Carty placed 3rd in Humorous Interpretation for his performance of Batman & Robin: Final Crash. Also, Junior Captain Xander Kennedy placed 4th in the Lincoln Douglas Debate. Finally, Sophomore Zak Honsaker placed 3rd in the same category, narrowly missing out on a victory in the championship match as the result of a technicality. The team performed exceptionally well in their first official debate competition.
The Moeller debate team’s next competition was at the Oakwood Golden Acorn Tournament. Their topic was the U.S. ought not give military aid to authoritarian regimes. Many of the students on the debate team did really well. Sophomore Teddy Bissmeyer notched his first victory in the Lincoln-Douglass Debate. Also, Zak Honsaker finished 11th out of 45 overall. He also managed to get 3 wins, but lost narrowly to the eventual winner of the entire tournament. Junior Carson Bellamy barely missed the stage and finished in 7th place in the congressional debate. Junior Max Barcomb took home an award for sixth place in the Original Oratory for his speech “Party in the USA,” about a two-party system.
The debate team practice in action.taken by Christian Hines
Moeller’s next tournament was held right here at home and Archbishop Moeller High School has never hosted a high school debate. The team is aiming for a win at home since they have a home court advantage. There is a lot of key details that go into producing this inaugural debate. For instance, the team must find judges. These are generally volunteer parents who end up helping out with the event. The most important factor is to find non-biased judges and this can be difficult because parents want to see their kid’s do well. Additionally, a few Moeller teachers have stepped up like Mr. Steve Joegben, Mr. Brian Gilronan , Ms. Tara Grewe, and Mr. Nathan Beiersdorfer.
Finally, a large space is required for the event since you have many teams and many supporters gathering for the event. Since Moeller has so many Winter sports and banquets, finding time and space to reserve the gym can be tricky. It’s very likely that we will need to choose an off peak time since this is a new project for Moeller and basketball and wrestling and other events are more mature and take priority for now.
We are very excited to be hosting this event at Moeller and for the support of the faculty and staff. Debate is a great way to learn about new topics, hear different perspectives and to be able to use logical arguments to test your opponents. It also helps you learn how to research your topic, organize your thoughts and learn the power of persuasion. Finally, it teaches students to accept constructive criticism from the judges, so they can be better prepared for future debates.
Mr. Eble is so excited about the new team at Moeller and their early success. He plans to develop a speech class for Moeller in the future, because he supports the benefits of students learning to properly debate and argue their views. This is an important skill that students can leverage for many years.