Their Success is Not Up For Debate

Victor Tse’s words came faster now.

He barely glanced at the notes in his hand as he galloped through point after point. This was his rebuttal, a chance to tear apart his opponent who only minutes before gave a speech attempting to denounce everything he had just said.

It’s Tuesday, and Tse and his opponent, both students, are practicing their debate tactics for an upcoming tournament. The official school day has been over for about an hour, but as always members of the speech and debate team remain, practicing their speeches and researching in two classrooms at the end of a darkened hallway.

It’s a busy life. Between a full school day, homework and the two to four hours spent almost every night crafting their arguments on a topic typically known only two or three weeks before a tournament, members of the debate team learn quickly to work hard and manage their time wisely.

The hard work has certainly paid off. The team consistently places in the almost weekly tournaments held throughout northern Ohio, and a handful qualify for state and national tournaments each year. All this success is in spite of the fact that the team is only four years old, and faces off against schools whose enrollments more than double that of Beachwood’s.

“We compete against them,” said debate team advisor, Nicole Majercak. “For as small as we are, to do as well as we’ve done. That’s impressive.”

Beachwood High has just under 600 students and of the 41 on its debate team, only less than half qualify to consistently attend tournaments. By comparison, the debate team of local powerhouse Solon High School, which has a student population of more than 1,700, filled more than seven rows during a recent tournament.

The team’s notoriety has grown so much that last January it was honored by being asked to host its own tournament at the high school featuring 32 teams from schools across the region. The team’s own president, Elliot Angart, placed first in that tournament.

Majercak, an English teacher at Beachwood High who lines the team’s trophies along a wall in her classroom, attributes to the debate team’s success to the students themselves.

“We have so many kids here who are incredibly smart and can handle tons of information,” she said. “They’re really focused on academics, from the elementary school all the way up. Our kids come in with a thirst for knowledge.”

All that talent and ability is a necessity for the level of competition these students face. Although there are several categories to compete in, most require a knack for retaining a large quantity of information about a variety of topics and using it to refute an opponent’s argument on the spot with only a few minutes of prep time.

The two main categories are “Public Forum”, where two teams of two debate a pertinent issue, such as whether WikiLeaks is a threat to national security, first by giving a speech for or against then verbally sparring with the opponent using his or her own words against him, and a mock congress category where one student will debate an actual bill as if he or she were a congressperson.

“Being able to use your time wisely, researching, speaking publicly, it’s all very helpful,” said Tse, 17, the captain of the debate team who is considering practicing law when he graduates this spring.

Tse said that the time and effort put into debate also pays dividends in school, especially in history and government classes where many of the lessons taught have already been thoroughly researched for a debate.

Debate teams are so tied to academics Beachwood High Principal Robert Hardis said he was shocked to discover there was no debate team when he was hired in 2005, especially for a school where nearly 94 percent of students go on to college.

“I’ve always noticed a real strong connection to academics,” said Hardis. “When you have a motivated kid, debate kind of hones your thinking and brainpower, and it makes a strong case that you’ll go to a leading university and excel there.”

That was certainly true for the student who founded the school’s debate team, Matthew Baron, now a freshman at Northwestern University in Chicago studying communications and international relations.

Baron, too, was disappointed by Beachwood’s lack of a debate team when he arrived as a freshman and approached the coach of Gilmour Academy’s team to see if he could join their team. Eventually he began competing under Beachwood High’s banner before enlisting Hardis’ help in creating an actual team for the school.

Only nine students were involved that in the team’s first season during the 2007-08 school year. Majercak took over as coach the next year and membership, along with the wins, steadily grew.

Majercak began teaching a debate class beginning last fall, similar to what other schools that have strong debate teams throughout the country also have. She said she hopes the class can pass along some of the skills the team members already possess onto students who may not be familiar with the art of debate.

“We’re teaching the student of the 21st Century,” she said. “They have to think quick on their feet and have a bunch of knowledge on a wide variety of topics.”

Want to help?

The debate team is looking for sponsors. Anyone interested in donating, either money or computer-based research tools like LexisNexis or JSTOR, should contact the school at (216) 831-2080.