About the team

Whitefish Bay High School has competed in debate for decades. Students take a question with no easy answer, research it for weeks, write the case for both sides of it, and then defend whichever side they are handed in front of a judge who decides at the end of the round. The question changes every few months. The work does not.

The team at a glance

Events
Policy debate, Lincoln-Douglas debate and Public Forum debate.
Size
More than 20 students competing this season.
Practice
Mondays and Wednesdays at lunch, and Thursdays after school.
Season
The season runs from early October to Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in January.
Leagues
The Wisconsin Debate Coaches Association, the National Speech and Debate Association and the National Catholic Forensic League.

What each event looks like, and how a round actually runs, is explained on what the events are.

Where we compete

The team belongs to three organizations, and competes under all three.

  • The Wisconsin Debate Coaches Association (WDCA), which runs the Wisconsin high school circuit and the state tournament.
  • The National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA), the national organization whose district tournament is one route to the national tournament.
  • The National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL), whose league qualifies students to its own national tournament.

Students choose which tournaments they attend. A typical Wisconsin tournament means arriving at the host high school around 8:00 AM and competing into the afternoon. To qualify for the state tournament, a student needs to attend at least two tournaments and post a record of three wins and two losses.

If there is enough interest this season, the team hopes to add a couple of overnight trips to Chicago, Minneapolis or Iowa to compete on the national circuit, which debaters call the Tournament of Champions circuit.

How the season runs

Students pursuing national qualification keep going into the summer, with a much lighter travel schedule in the second semester.

Practice is twice a week at lunch and once a week after school; the times and the rooms are on how to join.