Some students may be celebrating Valentine’s Day on Saturday, but the Redhawk Debate Team will be competing in the UIL Invitational Competition at Prosper’s Walnut Grove High School. 

“Advanced debaters work in teams to practice skills for their debate or speaking competition,” Debate Teacher Michelle Porter said. “The only mindset for all competitions is to practice, rehearse, practice and do your best.”

With each field of debate being different from the next, preparation can look a little different for everyone.

“Most of what extemporaneous debate does is spontaneous, since we can’t prepare cases in advance,” Extemp Captain, junior Akshay Jagan said. “I feel the other captains and I have successfully prepared our respective teams for competitions so far through rigorous drills and activities, and we’ll bring that expertise to Prosper.”

In comparison to other competitions, some debaters anticipate the UIL invitational to be a step up.

“Since this is my first year on the team, I expect the invitationals to be more competitive than the fall competitions we attended,” Lincoln Douglas debater, junior Aarthikaa Sridhar said. “I am trying to be as prepared as I can and getting as much practice to solidify my case.”

For Extemp debater, senior Mahi Kosuri, this competition could represent the end of an era.  

“This might be one of my last debate competitions so I am looking forward to having fun and competing with my friends,” Kosuri said. “The people are definitely my favorite part, especially because we see each other in school and after school.”

The topic changes each semester for Lincoln Douglass debaters which means they will be debating a new topic on Saturday. 

“I have a few concerns about my cases since we got a new topic this semester and I’ve only been able to apply them a few times during class,” sophomore Sonali Rao said. “But I’m looking forward to going to a bigger competition since the competitions last semester seemed to be a bit smaller.”