On March 8, the annual CHS formal debates will be held in front of the school for the student and teacher bodies to watch.
The CHS argument course is available to Bellwood seniors and takes place through the University of Pittsburgh, and one requirement is to conduct a school wide debate in front of an audience. The course is offered to schools mainly in greater Pittsburgh area.
Every year since 2013 Bellwood-Antis, the debate class holds debates in the auditorium during school hours. Teachers also collaborate to come up with a theme for each year, this year’s being “AI is a benefit to education”.
“I think the theme will be interesting because we’ve already debated topics centered around AI this year,” commented Olivia Hess, a current student in the CHS class. “I’m excited to do this formal debate because it’ll be fun to have all of the year’s work pay off.”
Last year, the school-wide debates featured a junior section where students who planned to join the class next year preformed their own debate.
“After getting to practice last year, I’m excited to present in front of the school to show what I’ve learned,” stated Chloe Brown, a CHS debate student.
The class has spent the year learning debate theory for one quarter and conducting a series of five classroom debates for the remainder.
“I can’t wait for the debates to get here,” commented Kerry Naylor, who teaches the CHS debate class at Bellwood. “This class has worked very hard and mastered several debate forms. AI is a pressing topic to pick, so this should be educational for everyone- both the arguers and the student body.”
The debates will be running during school hours in the high school auditorium. Teachers have the option to bring students to watch them during class time or not.
