By Toni Garrard Clay/AISD Communications Specialist
It’s not too often that debate tournament victories are described as nail-biters, but that was exactly the case for Athens High School during the Feb. 5 UIL District 4A Competition for CX debate. (For the uninitiated, that’s cross-examination debate.)
Debate tournaments advance through a series of rounds. Both of Athens’ cross-examination teams — composed of sophomores True Head and Matthew Hernandez, and freshmen Jordan Ramirez and Jose Sanchez — lost in an early round to Mabank. Going into the quarterfinals, the sophomore team was in fifth place, and the freshman team in seventh. Three rounds later, when the dust settled, Head and Hernandez had clinched first place and qualified for state. Ramirez and Sanchez took third place and are state alternates.
“I’m very proud of all of them,” said Athens High School Speech and Debate Coach Nicole Cornish. “For True and Matthew to qualify for state is especially notable. They’ve achieved something as sophomores that most people don’t accomplish until their junior or senior years.”
Both Head and Hernandez describe their debate classmates as “family,” especially since they spend a great deal of time gathering information for one another, staying after school to prepare, and traveling frequently to practice tournaments. The debate “season” is all year, with the busiest time near the end of the school year with both state and national tournaments as the goals.
“Debate is time-consuming, but it’s worth it,” said Head. “You get to meet a lot of people. It’s a small program and very intimate.”
“We have fun,” said Hernandez. “We’re there with a bunch of other schools, and we have friends there.”
CX debate is a form of policy debate in which teams of two argue for or against a resolution calling for a change in federal policy. This year’s resolution calls for increased non-military exploration and/or development of the earth’s oceans. During the debate, one team presents a plan (the affirmative team) and the other argues against it (the negative team). It’s referred to as cross-examination because there is a questioning period after the first four speeches of a debate round.
“We usually know about 10 minutes before the round starts if we’re arguing for or against,” said Head. “As the affirmative team, we always present the same plan. As the negative team, we have a generalized strategy.”
“It’s paid off how much time we spend working after school and going to tournaments,” said Hernandez. “It’s helped us get as far as we have.”
Apart from UIL, AHS debaters are also preparing for regional competition as part of the National Speech and Debate Association. That tournament is in about two weeks, and the top three CX teams will advance to the national competition. The UIL state tournament (a separate organization from nationals) takes place March 20 and 21 in Austin.
Both Head and Hernandez have plenty of praise for their teacher and coach. “Mrs. Cornish is excellent,” said Hernandez. “She won state herself in persuasive speaking. That benefits us because we know she knows what she’s talking about.”