McPherson High School’s debate team headed to Lyons on Friday the 21st and Saturday the 22nd of January to compete in the state debate tournament. McPherson sent four debaters to compete in 4-Speak- Seniors Mensi Patel, and Chintan Patel, and sophomores Mitch Harger and Cole Hansen. After a total of fourteen rounds, McPherson tied with Buehler for fourth place.

    The four students were paired together into duos of two in order to compete during the 4-Speak. In a 4-Speak, two people argue to support a topic or policy, while two others of the same team have to argue against it. The debaters were given the topic “Should the United States federal government substantially increase its diplomatic and/or economic engagement with the People’s Republic of China?” The Patels argued the negative, against the topic, while Harger and Hansen were affirmative, arguing for the topic.

    “It’s harder to debate the negative side because unlike affirmative you don’t have your first speech completely written out,” Mensi Patel said. “When you’re negative you have to know more about everything, because when you’re debating against it, you don’t know what arguments the affirmatives will bring up.”

    To compete in the 4-Speak students first had to qualify. During regionals, McPherson placed 2nd, where they became one of two teams chosen in the region to be able to participate in the 4-Speak. Each duo had to debate in three rounds on the first day, and four on the second.

    “The days during the tournament were very long,” Mensi Patel said, “Our days started around 8 a.m. when we woke up, and we didn’t get home until around 10 p.m.”

    The Patels went 4-3 while Harger and Hansen went 2-5 against their competitors.

    “State was really hard because we didn’t know the teams we were competing against very well,” Mensi Patel said. “A lot of them were private Kansas City schools that were really good.”

    To prepare for big tournaments like state, the team watches practice rounds. They also practice their speeches out loud, while their coach, Aaron Schopper, critiques them.

    “We prepare for events like state by researching the topic, and eating a lot of pizza,” Mensi Patel said.

    While debate is not all fun and games during tournaments, team mates find ways to lighten the mood.

    “The best times were when we would all just hang out in between rounds,” Mensi Patel said. “Chintan and I started calling ourselves “MCSquared.”

    As a senior, this is the last year Mensi will be able to participate in high school debate.

“The best thing that came out of competing was ending my debate career on a fun note,” Mensi Patel said.

    Mensi Patel’s season in debate isn’t quite over yet since she has qualified for nationals along with seniors Chintan Patel, Callie Lemon, and Paxton Leaf.

    Nationals are set to take place at the end of May in Louisville, Kentucky.