Gun discussion draws dozens of students
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Discussing his reasoning for more gun control laws, senior Parker Butler, addresses the audience.
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Preparing for districts in February, the Advanced Debate Team placed well at Princeton UIL invitational Meets. Students were able to reflect on their performance and see what they need to work on for the district competitions.
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Discussing his reasons for gun rights, junior Chris Yu, answers a question that the audience provided.
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On Saturday, several Redhawks represented campus at the 5A District 10 UIL Academic Meet. Several students on campus qualified to compete at the Regional tournament at UT Arlington.
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Starting at a new school can be nerve wracking for some, however, international students on campus can face a different set of challenges. Cultural norms, learning informal language, and educational differences are just the start of the variations people from other countries feel when moving to an English speaking country.
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Chris Yu engages in a rebuttal to Parker Butler’s statement.
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Taking the floor, senior Parker Butler fights for his beliefs relating to gun control.
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Dozens of students filled room C152 Wednesday during advisory for the TED-Ed sponsored gun control discussion; organized with the purpose of educating students before the nationwide walkout on Friday during advisory.
Moderator Ria Bhasin explains the structure of the discussion.
“Before the walkout, obviously, a lot of people are still very wishy washy about doing the walkout or they think that the walkout is going to put them in trouble,” walkout organizer Priya Nalliah said. “I think this discussion is going to promote an idea of how they feel about gun discussion so they won’t just feel biased. So I think this will just give the opportunity for students to understand how they feel about guns and whether or not they will want to participate in the walkout.”
The discussion began with a representative on both sides of the gun control debate presenting their opening remarks, followed by a session with moderator Ria Bhasin asking questions. Students in the audience were also able to post questions via an online forum.
“I learned definitely some new stuff about legislation before that kind of influences the debate,” junior Vinny Shirvaikar said. “I thought it was a pretty good debate with both sides were well spoken and discussed their sides and thoughts pretty well.”
While the discussion may not have changed anybody’s mind, junior Shobha Melukote found the discussion informative.
Junior Kanika Kappalayil texts a question to the online forum at the advisory gun control discussion.
“I learned a lot about the 1986 ban and just how the government has handled automatic versus semi-automatic weapons,” Melukote said. “So I do think it was worthwhile to go to and just learn more about both sides.”
Although there are many opposing thoughts on the issue of gun control, conservative representative Chris Yu believes the conversation is what matters.
“Having teens pioneer things is actually relatively new and I think that’s really awesome especially since our generation is kind of the generation that likes to take initiative,” Yu said. “There’s definitely a problem and I’m really glad that our generation has realized it, it’s just how we’re going to deal with the problem that kind of is creating this debate right now.”
Megan is a junior who joined Wingspan her freshman year. In her free time, she likes to eat and sleep (not at the same time) and cry at the amount of work...
