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The twelfth grade CHS Argument and Rhetoric class taught by Mr. Naylor had its annual school-wide debates yesterday.

Students in the class work in teams to prepare an argument to be debated in front of an audience of their peers in the auditorium.

The debates are video recorded and sent to the University of Pittsburgh to be evaluated by members of the communications department. From there, one student from every school participating in CHS Argument and Rhetoric is chosen to participate in a statewide debate in Pittsburgh in late April.

Participants in Mr. Naylor’s CHS class included the following:

Joe Padula and Stephanie Mills vs. Grace Misera and Ryan Moore debating “Information gathered through social media creates a well-informed society.”

Brayton Coover and Sawyer Kline vs. Jarryd Kissel and Adam Bowers debating “News organizations are trustworthy.”

Amanda Baldwin, Abby Luensmann and Jarett Taneyhill vs. Payge Heater and Josh Swope debating “Mass media has a responsibility to be honest.”

Phoebe Potter and Luke Tuggy vs. Devon Zheng and Tanner George debating “Truth is the guiding principle of news organizations.”

McKenna Mayers, Sophie Damiano and Haley McCloksey vs. Alli McCauley and Addison Clemente debating “Social and mass media make image more important than substance in public elections.”

“Its been five years since we started doing these debates on stage and inviting everyone in to watch them and it gets better every year.  The students in class now look forward to the school wide debates, and our teachers and students make a great audience,” said Mr. Naylor.

All schools participating in the CHS program must debate on the same theme. This years’ theme was “Social and Mass Media and improve Democratic Decision Making.”

“This years’ students did a tremendous job with debate topics that challenged them to think about the world they’ve grown up in.  All of the students saw the connection between the media and what’s happening in our world today,” said Mr. Naylor.