Savage Debate
By Safe, Karl
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Please congratulate your Savage Debate Team on its impressive Sweepstakes-winning performance this weekend. Two students broke into Finals in Debate, Logan Smith with a 4-0 record and Paige Chance with a 3-1 record, though they were unfortunately eliminated before qualifying for Regionals (Logan finished 4th, Paige finished 7th). Saturday’s Individual Events allowed our students to show even more of their talent, as we locked up 4 medals and 5 qualifications for the Regional Tournament. Logan placed 2nd in Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking. Shayla Queen placed 3rd in the same event. Laine Weatherford placed 5th in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking (no medal, but qualifying for Regionals). Laine also placed 3rd in Prose Interpretation, after receiving straight 1’s in the Prelims. Caden Copeland, also after receiving straight 1’s in the Prelims, became Tournament Champion in Prose Interpretation. With all of the medals, finalists, and qualifications, Broken Bow’s points totaled enough for 3rd place in 5A Sweepstakes, ahead of 11 other schools, including Public Schools, Private Schools, and Prep Schools. We even topped our bitter rival, Cascia Hall. I think I need to emphasize this point because it is really unspeakable the odds these students face at every tournament, while still coming out victorious. Keep in mind that schools, such as Cascia Hall, Bishop Kelly, Guymon, Metro Christian, Nathan Hale, Skiatook, Wilburton, Sallisaw, Bishop McGuinness, Classen, Classen SAS, Tecumseh, Oklahoma Christian Academy, Deer Creek Edmond, Durant, and so many more of our regular opponents, frequently take busloads and busloads full of students to compete in these tournaments. Savage Debate takes an SUV with 7 students. In a tournament in which Sweepstakes are awarded to schools that win the most medals, it is practically mathematically impossible for our students to win this award. The odds are practically insurmountable. But, still, your Savage Debate Team finds a way to get it done. Broken Bow travels an average of 3.5 hours just to get to a competition, whereas 90% of its competition travels often less than 30 minutes. Broken Bow spends hundreds of dollars on fuel and hotel rooms, hundreds of dollars of money that it raises on its own, whereas most of our competition has all of its expenses covered, as they usually don’t need hotel reservations. Your Savage Debate team leaves at 7am on Friday mornings, competes until 11pm on Friday nights, wakes up earlier than you can imagine on Saturday mornings to begin competing at 8am, competes through as late as 6pm, and then drives the 3.5 hours to get back home, hopefully before midnight, and hopefully without hitting any deer along the way. The students struggle to raise money to support our efforts, and that doesn’t include the $50 minimum that it takes of their own money to buy their food for the weekend, during the very few chances they actually get to eat. These are often overlooked facts that get lost in the glitz of all of the hardware we bring home EVERY tournament from which we come home. Trust me, it’s easy to get distracted when you see so many gold medals and trophies. Please make sure you find a Debater and show them how much you respect what they do. As you can tell, this stuff (and Quiz Bowl) makes me pretty emotional, and I can’t believe I get paid to do what I love and what I’m passionate about. Debate/Drama includes events that build character and professionalism, and it has always been my opinion that the class should be mandatory for all students.
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