The skills for speech and debate can be learned, but a lot of the natural ability to be argumentative and think past the obvious you are born with. Junior Sam Alleman showcased his talent by placing 1st place in Senate on April 12, 2012. He is now qualified for the National Tournament in June.
“Senate is a division of the event Student Congress, an event which copies the United States Congress with debates about pieces of legislation,” Alleman said. “For example, a resolution to appeal Universal Health Care or a bill to reform the tax code, the event itself has a House and Senate; they are the same event just with a Senate being the higher ranked.”
The competition was held Prestonwood Christian Academy. Schools from all over the city and within the North Texas cities competed for the chance to travel to Washington, DC and compete at a national level.
“I was competing against 21 schools including Plano Sr., Marcus, John Paul II, Grapevine, Mansfield, Arlington, Greenhill, Byron, Nelson and Allen,” Alleman said. “The event is highly competitive as there are many more competitors than there are spots to Nationals, with only the top two going.”
The entire competition takes preparation and prior knowledge to be keen and intuitive about the topics. The basic skills taught in a class like communications applications, a required class by PISD, are essential to begin building the abilities to be successful in a competition like the Congressional Debate.
“Contestants would then give a speech in favor or against,” Alleman said. This speech would be scored by a judge and ranked, allowing for two people to win and proceed on to the National Forensic League (NFL) National Qualifying Tournament.”
Alleman’s interest in speech and debate was premature in the sense that during middle school, his time was spent in books learning to compete.
“I started competing in the 6th grade doing Public Forum Debate,” Alleman said. “However, in the 9th Grade I started doing Student Congress and have done it since then.”
Everyone in high school has their own activity or special ability that helps others to identify them. Each person is unique and has strength in an area that they can be proud of. Most people know Alleman as the smart, charismatic kid who is in debate.
The National Forensic League Tournament takes place in Indianapolis, Indiana this year. Those who compete must qualify by advancing out of their NFL district. Texas has 17 NFL districts, but most states have fewer. Usually the top 2 qualify from each district in each event. Plano West also qualified Justin Hahn and Shravan Shaastri in Public Forum debate, Tushar Maden in International Extemporaneous speaking and Zachary Stone in United States Extemporaneous Speaking. The West would like to incorporate more interpretive events, like Humorous, Dramatic and Dao interpretation.
“What I like about debate is that it allows me to voice my opinions on the issues in a competitive manner,” Alleman said. “As well, it allows me to compete with my friends and it gives us me a sense of community.”
What we do in our young lives usually determines what we want or strive to do later in life. We try to make a career of what we love, so it becomes less of a job and more of an enjoyable life decision.
“I do not know where my debate skills will take me, but I would like to go into political consulting or human resources,” Alleman said.
