Freshman Year
Stepping into the debate room in the basement of Burnham Hall was an experience in itself. It was rustic, but in a way that felt comfortable. In my time with the Drury Debate Union, I have learned many things, some about debate, some about the people, and some about myself.
About debate, I learned how to speak on my feet in a way that I have rarely had to do. In high school, I was taught to read from evidence and always defend the facts. It didn't matter if I was charismatic, or if I had the best intro or personal story. In IPDA, Individual Parliamentary Debate Association, I was thrown for a loop. Instead of lengthy speeches focusing on pure facts: who had the best evidence, who had the most recent numbers; in college debate all of that was thrown out the window. In IPDA debate I had to give 3 minute speeches off the cuff with only 30 minutes to prepare. My first year was a bit of a crash course. I had to relearn to speak to people, I couldn't stand behind a podium and behind my computer that held all the answers. Instead, I had to stand alone with myself and my pad of paper. I really changed as a speaker in the first year and first semester, and I changed for the better.
About the people of the Debate Union, I learned that all debaters are the same. We are the stereotype. But that's not always a bad thing - as a result of defending the stereotype, our team made it to nationals and one of our teams won Team Varsity Nationals in Arkansas in March of 2017. I am immensely proud of the Drury Debate Union. We brought on four new debaters on scholarship in 2016, and amassed a few more who came because they wanted to debate, and next thing we knew we had launched ourselves into every tournament, taking home hardware over 90% of the time. We started from the ground and wound up taking IPDA Nationals 2017 by storm.
About debate, I learned how to speak on my feet in a way that I have rarely had to do. In high school, I was taught to read from evidence and always defend the facts. It didn't matter if I was charismatic, or if I had the best intro or personal story. In IPDA, Individual Parliamentary Debate Association, I was thrown for a loop. Instead of lengthy speeches focusing on pure facts: who had the best evidence, who had the most recent numbers; in college debate all of that was thrown out the window. In IPDA debate I had to give 3 minute speeches off the cuff with only 30 minutes to prepare. My first year was a bit of a crash course. I had to relearn to speak to people, I couldn't stand behind a podium and behind my computer that held all the answers. Instead, I had to stand alone with myself and my pad of paper. I really changed as a speaker in the first year and first semester, and I changed for the better.
About the people of the Debate Union, I learned that all debaters are the same. We are the stereotype. But that's not always a bad thing - as a result of defending the stereotype, our team made it to nationals and one of our teams won Team Varsity Nationals in Arkansas in March of 2017. I am immensely proud of the Drury Debate Union. We brought on four new debaters on scholarship in 2016, and amassed a few more who came because they wanted to debate, and next thing we knew we had launched ourselves into every tournament, taking home hardware over 90% of the time. We started from the ground and wound up taking IPDA Nationals 2017 by storm.
Sophomore Year
In my Sophomore year, I learned a few more things about myself and I realized that there were other things I needed to tend to other than the demands of the debate team. I don't mean to sound cynical or jaded, but there was a certain requirement put on the by the coach and by the team that was quickly swallowing up my time and resources. For these reasons and a few others, i decided that I would quit the team at the end of the Fall semester of my Sophomore year. I had loved debate in the way that I was able to speak to my colleges from other states and that we were able to keep up with each other. What I did not like was facing the same debaters time and time again, and get inconclusive results and pointless feedback with no clear answer as to why I kept losing rounds. Of course, I blamed myself first, I thought that I kept losing because of who I was as a person, or that I was a poor speaker; but I came to realize that it wasn't that. All of my scorecards said that I had a wonderful voice, that my points were clear and easy to understand, and I scored almost perfectly most rounds, but I kept losing. I do truly hate giving up, but in this instance I knew that I wasn't going where I wanted to in this league, so I knew it was time to step away. That paired with the increasing amount of time we had to spend away from campus was beginning to be too much for me to handle.
In all, I loved the aspect of college debate. I love speaking and I love having good arguments where I can voice my opinions. I enjoyed my time with the Drury Debate Union and I wish the team all of the luck in the world.
In all, I loved the aspect of college debate. I love speaking and I love having good arguments where I can voice my opinions. I enjoyed my time with the Drury Debate Union and I wish the team all of the luck in the world.