Have you ever had trouble expressing how much you severely disagree with someone? Have your friends ever said the craziest stuff but you had trouble pushing the truth back to them respectfully? If so, and you want to learn how to handle these things better, you should join debate. In debate, you are given a resolution like, “hot dogs are an American food” and you must write two speeches: one affirming this resolution, and one refuting it. Debate contains two different events that one can join. One, the “Public Forum,” is done with a partner and debates more on the policy side of modern-day issues. The other, a “Lincoln-Douglass,” is an individual event and debates the morality of modern-day issues. Debate tournaments are four rounds long, with someone debating both sides of the resolution twice. The tournaments are almost every week and usually run from 8:30 am to 3:00pm. This year, there were nine regular-season tournaments. They are always on Saturdays, which is convenient for scheduling with winter sports. Debate has practice after school in the library until 5:15, usually every day of the week. Practices are not mandatory every day. The coaches for Debate at South are a South teacher, Mr. Novak, and a former South student Nathan Rateau. If someone is looking for achieving something in their high school years, Debate has a State and National tournament. This year, Nationals is in Des Moines, Iowa. If you’re interested in Debate, try it out next year because it will teach you invaluable critical thinking skills.