In early October, DKC member schools from across the metro gathered at UMKC to learn about the year’s policy topic and watch a policy debate round! First up was our High School workshop held on October 5, 2022. To follow, DKC’s Middle School workshop was held on October 10, 2022.
To start off our workshops, students listened to, the Director of DKC, Isaac Allen’s lecture on the fundamentals of debate, the benefits of debate, and why participating in debate through DKC gives students a unique competitive edge. To follow, DKC’s Program Director Corey Fisher led a Topic lecture on the 2022-2023 Policy topic:
RESOLVED: The United States federal government should substantially increase its security cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in one or more of the following areas: artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cybersecurity.
Corey’s lecture covered the basics of the topic like what is security cooperation and NATO, and who is a part of it. The lectured worked through all the subtopics and even included a showing of a Westworld clip to highlight where our future could be heading if AI ruled the world!
After a captivating lecture at the High School workshop, Corey and Isaac took to the stage to present a mock debate round as the Negative team. Their opponents? DKC Alumni, Marley Kay Lowe, and Royal Sulivan. Marley Kay and Royal ran an affirmative plan advocating for an ethical deployment standard for Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems. With a fierce 1NC, Isaac ran an OSCE CP, Military Readiness DA, and attacked case heavily. After a fierce battle, students determined the negative came out on top of this debate.
Alt Caption: POV: You’re debating for the first time in years.
During the Middle School workshop, teams looked a bit differently; Marley Kay and Royal took on the Negative side and Corey was joined on Affirmative by another wonderful DKC alumna, Frankie George. This round looked a bit different as the Negative team opted for a UN CP, Military Readiness DA, and case attacks. After a mighty round, students were persuaded enough by the Negative team to reign victorious. All of the files presented in these debates can be found here on our Student Resources Page.
After the adults got to play debate, it was time for our amazing DKC students to try their hand at showing off their speaking, research, and critical thinking skills. Students were given a packet, similar to those they had just heard, to form their own arguments and debate another student on the topic of Ethical LAWS. Students were given prep time and spoke in 2-minute increments to explain why their side was better. After warming up to the idea of speaking, each member school brought up a volunteer to show their new skills to the entire audience. DKC even announced honorary top three speakers!
Caption: Top three Middle Schoolers explaining their position to their peers.
The workshop results were outstanding! Serving more than 150+ local area students, we here at DKC believe students are now more prepared to take on the debate season. Because of our amazing sponsors, DKC was able to provide meals for 150+ students over both days of the workshop. Thank you again to the fantastic staff at UMKC and all our DKC sponsors and volunteers that made this workshop happen!
Until next time,
DKC Fam
Image descriptions:
Image one; Image Description: Large room of students (75 or so) sitting in basic grey chairs, facing the camera and listening. Corey Fisher lecturing with back to the camera wearing a red shirt hidden behind the stage podium. Large projector screen in the back of the room with topic content (out of camera range).
Image two; Image Description: Middle School students sitting in the same large area listening to Corey at the front of the room and a large projector screen at the back. Corey is on stage behind the podium and the projector asks “What is NATO?”.
Image three; Image Description: the picture was taken on the stage in the same large room with students facing toward the camera. Backs of the three debaters on stage, Frankie in black two seats in, Corey in red behind the podium, and royal last chair on the right in a grey hoodie and red ball cap.
Image four; Image Description: taken on stage at the table facing the students in the audience in the same large room. Centered is a Mac Laptop that has a Debate Card that has highlighted lines in bright blue. Pens, water bottle, and pencil pouch cover most of the grey table around the computer.
Images five, six, and seven; Image Description: one Middle Schooler speaking behind a wooden podium in each of the three images.
Image eight; Image Description: On stage, students sit at two tables on either side of the wooden podium. One is speaking at the podium leaving the far right chair empty. Corey is on stage leaning over to help the second student from the right.
Image nine; Image Description: In the same large room, 15-20 students are huddled in line in front of a black table that is serving burgers and chips for lunch.
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