We all know that taking the effort to speak in front of a large group of people is not easy. The Herriman High School debate team already had a great headstart to the year, and still has a great way to go. There are many future debate events to look forward to this year, as well as some big things that have already been accomplished. I took the time to speak with the vice president and some of the members of debate and here is what we know so far.
First, let’s take a dive into the things that the debate team has already accomplished this year. They have stayed after school doing lots of classwork and prepping for tournaments and public speaking, and are still continuing to do it. They have already had four tournaments this year, one of them at the University of Utah and another at Hunter High School. They also feel that they have way more participation this year and way more people have joined the debate team than in the last few years. Just like other clubs, they meet many other people who they have a lot in common with when it comes to debate.
The debate team also has some goals on things they feel they need more improvement on. They feel they need better organization and more accountability. Their goals are to continue to popularize the team and do well in future tournaments. Some of the team members say their personal goals are to be more well spoken and open to the public. On that same note, they also claim that they have broken out of being shy.
They also stated that they feel more included in school activities this year than in the previous years. In the last few years, they did not participate in other activities that were not debate related, but this year they have changed that. They feel that they have been good at adjusting to things. The members say that they have improved their own procrastination this year as well.
Last but not least, they have many events coming in the future this year. They will be debating on many controversial topics like improving national service, plea bargaining, and whether or not we should abolish the death penalty. They have lots of tournaments coming up and they plan on competing against other high schools that they have not competed against yet, but for now they are not sure where and who they will have these tournaments with. They have national qualifications coming up in March 2026.
