Students hoping to join the debate team are in the midst of a three day tryout process that began Monday and ends Wednesday. 

“Debate captains oversee the tryouts and discuss final decisions according to the spots we have available,” teacher Michelle Porter said. “I enjoy watching my captains take on leadership roles and look for students who are enthusiastic, self-driven, and well-spoken.”

The tryout process typically consists of two steps: Lincoln Douglass debate and a current events speech.

“It essentially gives us some things to work from,” Extemp captain, junior Akshay Jagan said. “The first is how well they will do in LD debate, the second is extemporaneous debate, from the speeches, and the third one is CX debate, from their overall cross examining abilities and how well they interact with the other person’s argument.” 

Students who are trying out, including sophomore Grant Paulsen, have put in time and effort to prepare for the tryouts.

“In order to prepare for the tryouts, I spent most of my prep time building my case for the LD portion of the tryouts,” Paulsen said. “I’ve also done my best to keep up with current events so that I would be ready for the Extemporaneous speech.”

Current members are not expected to try out again, but many are anticipating meeting their future teammates.

“This will be my first year observing this process, since last year I tried out and I wasn’t really able to enjoy it because of my nerves,” sophomore Sonali Rao said. “I think it will be cool to see who is trying out and what kinds of skills they have.”

For Jagan, there is much to look forward to for the future of the team.

“What I most enjoy about this process is seeing what each person is uniquely suited to,” Jagan said. “It’s really exciting to see what every person that will be on our team next year is best suited to so we can help them grow in that field of debate.”