Debate Officers pose for a picture before their mock tournament

Crisp black pants over a clean dress shirt. The clicking of heels over the tile floor. In one month, the debate team will be heading toward their first competition in five years. An eager group of students have stepped up to the challenge of forming a school team and are excited to spearhead this upcoming debate season. 

The debate team is under the leadership of Ms. Rahmane Dixon. Dixon has extensive experience in debate, even earning a full ride to college. Although this is her first year teaching, she is already making a big impact at the Creek.

“I thought my debate career had ended, but when Summer Creek expressed that they hadn’t had a debate team, and that they really wanted one, I definitely took it upon myself to ensure that the eight years experience that I had was able to be given to somebody else,” Dixon said.

In choosing the officers, Dixon wanted to make sure that she had the strongest team for the upcoming year. Dixon appointed Keilon Carrier, a current senior, as President.

Carrier cannot wait for the upcoming year and is excited for the new experiences heading his way. Although speaking is his favorite part about debate, he recalls his experience of running for president as “very nerve wracking.”

“I woke up several times during the night running [my speech] over in my head,” he said. However, all of the stressful hours spent preparing paid off when Keilon was elected president.

“I wanted to be president, partly because I wanted to take initiative for something,” Carrier explains. He is now excited for the first competition in October and would encourage people to join debate.

For students unfamiliar with Summer Creek debate, joining the team is easy. Dixon holds meetings twice a week in room 1704 on Mondays and Wednesdays after school. She helps guide students through the process of learning how to debate and how to be successful at competitions.

To dive a little bit deeper into the world of high school debate, there are several different events to compete in. Most events fall into two main categories: Lincoln-Douglas debate or extemporaneous speaking. Lincoln-Douglas debate is a traditional kind of debate, similar to what would be seen in films. Students make a case for the prompt they receive and are then judged based on their performance in a one-on-one debate. In extemporary debate, students are exposed to three different prompts. After selecting a prompt, students have 30 minutes to research and make a seven-minute long speech presenting their case. Topics typically involve current events and politics. 

Junior Brenna McAlister is treasurer for the debate team and looking forward to the opportunities debate will provide her. McAlister is extremely grateful to be an officer and is excited to help keep her team responsible and financially well-managed, all while learning and having fun with her team.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” she said. “I think that we have a lot of potential on our team. Ms. Dixon will be able to maximize on that and we’ll be really good this year.”

Debate student Isabella Truong agrees. “It’s exciting. There’s a lot of competent people there and so I think that we’ll do well.”

Between the motivated debate students, and their experienced teacher, the future of the Summer Creek High School debate team looks bright.