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News & Photos
Allan Debating Society Prepares for Competition
The Allan Debating Society is McDonogh’s only team to compete in state-level tournaments from October through March. With such a long season ahead of them, the debaters have used the past summer as a golden chance to gain an edge over their competition. “The summer is a great time period for breaking in new debaters and explaining to them the basics that no one will have time to teach to them during the regular season,” explains co-captain Josh B., a senior. Debate has its own jargon, full of terms that would confuse even experienced politicians, and summertime allows new debaters to learn the ins and outs of the language.
The Society deals entirely in Policy Debate, an event that centers on a different topic each year. This year’s topic is weapons of mass destruction, an issue that often surfaced tangentially in past years. “Everything from increases in the economy to decreases in U.S. leadership meant the world was headed for nuclear war,” recalls Josh B. “Now we’ve got a whole topic where our only concern is nuclear war.”
A potentially dry topic, however, hasn’t dissuaded the team from staying focused over the summer. Meeting twice a week for two hours in the evening, the team also reserved the Foster Technology Center occasionally to conduct research on the internet. The Debate Team will compete first at John Carroll High School on October 6, along with the other member schools of the Baltimore Catholic Forensic League.
The Allan Debating Society is McDonogh’s only team to compete in state-level tournaments from October through March. With such a long season ahead of them, the debaters have used the past summer as a golden chance to gain an edge over their competition. “The summer is a great time period for breaking in new debaters and explaining to them the basics that no one will have time to teach to them during the regular season,” explains co-captain Josh B., a senior. Debate has its own jargon, full of terms that would confuse even experienced politicians, and summertime allows new debaters to learn the ins and outs of the language.
The Society deals entirely in Policy Debate, an event that centers on a different topic each year. This year’s topic is weapons of mass destruction, an issue that often surfaced tangentially in past years. “Everything from increases in the economy to decreases in U.S. leadership meant the world was headed for nuclear war,” recalls Josh B. “Now we’ve got a whole topic where our only concern is nuclear war.”
A potentially dry topic, however, hasn’t dissuaded the team from staying focused over the summer. Meeting twice a week for two hours in the evening, the team also reserved the Foster Technology Center occasionally to conduct research on the internet. The Debate Team will compete first at John Carroll High School on October 6, along with the other member schools of the Baltimore Catholic Forensic League.