BROOKINGS Theres no school in Brookings this Friday, yet the high school will nevertheless be awash with activity when the state debate tournament comes to town.
Ive been involved in Brookings debate this is my fourth year and we have not (hosted the tournament) until this year, Katie Jacobs, head Brookings debate coach, said. Weve held the district national qualifier before, but while Ive been here we havent hosted. It rotates around.
Last years tournament was in Watertown and the year before was in Mitchell.
We have school off for that Friday, and then we start right away, Jacobs said. We have two entries from every school in each event that get to come. Its split between A and AA. We compete in a variety of events public forum and Lincoln-Douglas debate so thats partner debate and single debate. And then (students) can also compete in individual events like informative speaking, original oratory and extemporaneous speaking.
She encourages the public to attend.
Spectators can come and watch. I know were going to have some parents come, Jacobs said. We have an awards ceremony at the end of Saturday. Also, the final rounds for debate get videotaped. That usually ends up on the SDHSAA archives, and I do believe it goes up on YouTube as well.
She said competition is selective, featuring the best from schools throughout the state.
Its a pretty big tournament; but when it comes down to it, its limited entry, Jacobs said. So for example, our national qualifier tournament usually takes a bit more and thats not even all the schools in the state that participate. But this is a more limited entry tournament where you only get two entries per event per school.
Shes proud of this years Brookings team.
Weve had a pretty decent season, Jacobs said. We just had our national qualifier tournament, and so we are currently taking its not fully completed six people to the national tournament. Were taking two public forum teams, one (Lincoln-Douglas debater) and one in program oral interp.
She said being involved in debate promotes both communication and critical thinking skills.
(Students learn to communicate) in a way thats composed, maintains decorum and represents them in a good light, Jacobs said. We can have civil discourse, and we can strive to solve problems instead of create them All of these events really get kids looking at how do we research, how do we know whats true in the world around us and probably more importantly how do we make the people in front of us understand what were saying and see the world from the point of view were describing.
Tournament competition at the high school runs Friday from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and again Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Awards will be presented Saturday at 5:45 p.m.
Contact Jay Roe at [email protected].
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