Dedication pays off
F
or the first time in school history, a Free State debate team has received three bids to the Tournament of Champions in April. Juniors Serena Rupp and John Marshall will join other top debate teams in the nation to compete at the prestigious tournament hosted by the University of Kentucky. “A lot of the schools that get bids are ones with a ton of resources for coaching or funding, which doesn’t apply to the Free State debate team,” Rupp said. “So, I think it was a very fulfilling moment because we knew that it was our work that paid off rather than other teams who just have their coaches writing arguments.” The setup of the awards ceremonies where the Tournament of Champions bids were announced, as well as the debates themselves, took place over Zoom. “It was just a Zoom call — everyone except the host
Debate team makes school history
was muted… it was so bizarre,” junior debater Rita Joseph said. “I never thought that I would be debating this way.” Despite the anticlimactic setup, it was still a fulfilling moment. “It wasn’t like in sports, where it’s like this big moment where you jump up, you’re like, ‘Yes! Oh my God, we did it.’ It’s just, I guess that would be considered inappropriate in the academic setting of debate,” Marshall said. Debate coach Kelly Thompson is goal-oriented with his students and tries to encourage them to develop intrinsic motivation for debate. That approach helped Rupp and Marshall secure their bids to April’s tournament. “To get that first bid out of the way to give yourself some reassurance that you’re not wrong about your
Debate partners and juniors Serena Rupp and John Marshall critique their argument strategy for the rest of the tournament. Rupp and Marshall won a recent tournament hosted by Blue Valley Southwest. “It is a qualifier for the tournament of champions, which is a national tournament,” Marshall said. “It’s one of the most prestigious national championships in the country.”
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