On Saturday, October 5th, the Law Magnet Debate Donuts took to Spruce High School, where four teams competed at the first Dallas Urban Debate Alliance (DUDA) High School Tournament of the season. While some of our dear friends and memorable debaters graduated and took on new challenges at various universities, the Law Magnet debate team refocused and created new teams with new talented debaters. Other pre-established teams strengthened their teamwork to give Law Magnet a strong start to the new debate season.
Of our new teams, World Schools Debaters (WSD) Manny Martinez and Dashiell McGhee and Policy Debaters (CX) Melanie Vela and William Winston particularly thrived, as both pairs won 3rd place team in their respective formats. Martinez and McGhee deserve huge props as they were down a very very very valuable team member (me… sorry!) and covered my speeches! This was no easy task as during the rounds, each debater had 4-8 minutes of added speech time. Even though it was McGhee’s first time debating since middle school, he did not disappoint! He won 5th place speaker overall, while Manny won 4th place. The pre-established teams, Noah Barrera and Matthew Albiter (CX) and Anyssa Alcala, Dayton Gaines, Marissa Vasquez, Nathan Webber, and Mason Klein (WSD) had their own wins too. Barerra won 10th place speaker in the Policy Division and Webber was 1st place speaker for the Varsity WSD division.
Anyssa Alcala, a member of the aforementioned WSD team, reflected upon how she feels about the start of the new debate season.
“The new start of the debate season is really exciting! The new motions that dropped are really interesting and so fun to debate! My favorite part is working with my team to create the cases, and once they are fleshed out, we get to debate them against other schools in Dallas ISD. Our goal is to win as many competitions as we can and compete at TFA (Texas Forensic Association)! I can just tell this will be an amazing season!”
In more recent news, on October 15th, transfer 10th grade debater William Winston participated in the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues’ (NAUDL) I RESOLVE debate forum. I RESOLVE showcases the power of debate for a public audience, exploring some of the most pressing issues in our society through the perspective, voice and values of the next generation of leaders — high school debaters. “The program also demonstrates our mission: advancing debate education in public schools to amplify youth voices and developing confidence for future success,” said NAUDL referencing the event. Last year, Law Magnet Debate alumni Habia and Suprun represented Law at the event and had a great performance. Winston definitely continued to pave the way of Law Magnet excellence with his participation. He was selected to participate in this event based on an impressive performance in previous years. He debates all formats, which is something that not many debaters do. He spent weeks collaborating with his partner Alaysha from Sunset HS, meticulously drafting and creating arguments to prepare for this debate. Quoted from Winston, “Debate has opened doors for me to explore a wide range of topics, expanding my awareness of both global and domestic issues. It has empowered me with the confidence to advocate for meaningful change within my community.”
The Law Magnet debate team has 4 core values: character, commitment, teamwork, and hard work. Our members embody each and every one of these values on a daily basis, but these debaters really let these values shine in their involvement. The Law Magnet Debate Donuts have their next tournament on October 26th, and we are more ready than ever before to have an amazing rest of the season.
