The Debate Team is all about what it’s called. Debating. It’s a group of students who are good at arguing their side. Within the Team there are different types of debating, such as Congress, Impromptu, Humorous or Dramatic Interpretation and etc.

 There are usually  tournaments once a month, where the Debate Team competes against other schools. Each student debates within the area they signed up for, stated above.

 The Caesar Cicero Tournament is a two day competition where debaters argue their side in two categories. Within this Tournament, each system is different.

 For the Impromptu session, students are given a slip of paper, with a word or phrase on it, and given two minutes to prepare for a five minute speech on the topic written on the paper. At the end of the two minutes, students are expected to give a speech which they are judged on by the quality of the speech, the clarity, organization and relevance of the issue.

 They are then rated on a one to five scale out of the other students within the category. The highest rated students then become finalists in the competition.

 During the Congress session, the judges give the students their topic beforehand so they have time to research them and think about the issue. This session is more like a court, where the “Congressman” can share their opinion on the matter at hand.

 The main source of grading is different from Congress, which would be participation, to the Impromptu, which is the parts of their speech.