For the last few months, the debate team has been practicing hard, and they just had their first home debate meet. Many students from different schools in the area came to Stang to compete. Although debate does require commitment and dedication, the students still really enjoy it. Freshman Abby Murphy, a new member on the debate team, says “It’s a lot of work, but the feeling you get after a good debate is worth it.” She said she enjoys debate and the competition. Many members feel this way because it’s a positive environment with people who embody the Stang message and the 2025-26 school year theme “do everything in love.” (Corinthians 1 16:14). Many freshmen feel welcomed into the club by the upperclassmen. 

The way that debate works is that there’s an affirmative team and a negative team. The affirmative team has to make a plan to solve the given conflict, and the negative team has to find problems or holes in that plan. The conflict this year is ‘The United States government should significantly increase exploration or development in the Arctic’. During the meets, there are five stock issues: tropicality, need for change, inherency, solvency, and disadvantages. These stock issues are extremely important because the affirmative team needs all of these to win. Even if they lose just one, they forfeit the win. The negative team only can win the “disadvantage”, if they don’t win this stock issue, the win goes to the affirmative. Notably, many students enjoy debate because they have a supportive team advisor, Mr Nelson. Freshman Noelle Jean, another member of the debate team, said “He’s definitely our biggest fan and supporter. Mr Nelson is a great teacher and team leader.” The team’s results were 12-10 with no forfeits which made them 23-17 on the season. This is good, and it means that they’ve won more rounds than they’ve lost. 

Joining the debate team is a great way to improve public speaking, compete with friends, and make new ones along the way. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, it is heavily encouraged to join next year to be a part of the action.