The ATA College Prep Policy Debate unfolded last Friday, with many of CP’s juniors and seniors clashing over the topic of ‘Increasing Military Presence In The Middle East’.

“Debate and public speaking are primary components in an education that matches our mission of developing compassionate, communicative leaders,” said Head of School Carol Hagar. “During their years here, all CP students produce both informal oral presentations and formal ones, as in the recent policy debate. I was impressed with the overall level of research, preparation and poised delivery from each our students.”

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The debate, which followed the standard guidelines outlined by the National Christian Forensics And Communications Association, centered on the issue of whether or not the United States should allocate more military resources of all kinds to the Middle East as a solution to the growing instability in the region. CP Junior Alejandro Rodriguez argued for the Negative Team.

“I had a lot of fun in both taking the debate course and doing the actual debate,” Alejandro said. “Because of our topic, I felt like I got to engage in something that is current and relevant, and I got to greatly expand my knowledge on the subject. I really enjoyed the final debate because it was kind of a culmination of what we had researched and practiced for a whole semester and it was cool to see how we all did after so much preparation. The amount of reading we did was really high and in depth and it was a good experience to prepare me for future classes/endeavors.”

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Ms. Yousef, who has a background teaching social studies, speech, and theatre, got into debate because to her it is a combination of all of those.

“I teach debate for two reasons: it offers skills that can be an asset in many careers and I enjoy watching students grow in ability and confidence. Debate develops skills in critical thinking, research, organization, persuasion, and writing affirmative cases and negative briefs on US policy. This type of research and organization can translate into many fields. The recent exhibition debate before judges gave the students an excellent opportunity to try their arguments and realize how much they have learned. They have spent many hours researching the resolution, which called for more US military presence in volatile regions and studying the rules of policy debate. I think everyone stood up to the task and should be proud of their performance.”

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Congratulations to all of the College Prep students who participated in the 2016 CP Policy Debate!