Memorial High School - Reata Yearbook (Houston, TX)

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DEBATE Takin life a little ea ier Prima facie burdens become crucial for A-6 Clan ith the eeriness and secrecy of a Dr. Jekyl-Mr. Hyde transforma- tion, the minds lurking behind the walls of A-6 seek to perform an even more powerful and awe-inspiring change as naive. innocent young men and women are changed from quiet. passive stu- dents to bustling. inquisitive debaters. Almost instantaneously. the victims begin to notice changes. perhaps most evident when their simple vocabularies begin to include such concepts as inherence. comprehensiveness. and sig- nificance. Next. they began to notice an array of file boxes and loose-leaf notebooks springing up around their presence. They noticed that some of the veterans of the trade seemed engulfed in this type of experience. and before they could catch their senses, they too had become one of the mystical cult. Debate is'an organized. strategic discussion of two parties of opposing views. said Coach Jean Boles. We spent around six weeks of intensive training with our novices in order to prepare them for the early tourna- ments. she said. Around 25 novices joined the squad increasing its total to about 60 deba- ters. according to Boles. Some had already spent a part of their summer attending one of the many summer institutes for debate instruction scat- tered about some college campuses in the country. ln debate we dealt with different things every day. ranging from prepa- ration for an upcoming tournament to practice for extemp speeches and ora- tionsf' said Peter Bakken. We dis- cussed debate theory and had practice debates all the time. he said. I Debate ll and lll classes mainly spent most of their class time working on everybody's cases and plotting out strategy against other cases according to Senior Alan Parkans. We had a lot of fun in class, and it helped to' mix such a serious subject with some jokes and gag. he said. Nationwide. the I977-78 Debate Topic. as set by the National Forensic League. was that the Federal Govern- ment should guarantee comprehensive medical care to all citizens in the U.S.. and some of the individual areas of argumentation centered around Medi- caid. Emergency Medical Services. X- Rays. and Wealth Neutral Services. Senior John Landa said. I really liked having the health care topic becausell am considering studying medicine in college. and this year really helped me learn quite a bit. Perhaps the main goal of the deba- ters every year was to qualify for the coveted state tournament held at Bay- lor University every Spring by doing well at an earlier NPL tournament dur- ing the year. Memorial sent one of the largest delegations it ever did this year as the teams of John Lee. Jim Blohm. Brad Glosserman. Jerry Simon. Alan Parkans. David Griffith. John Landa. Bobby Lapin. and Tim Purcell. Will Winsauer all attended the state tourney in the Cross- Examination debate divisions. Individual events also played a big part in the debate experience. according to Senior Jay Gross. Gross said that partici- pating in other events helped keep stu- dents aware and gave them practice for public speaking in later life. The debaters also sponsored a football team that defeated the once-champion Band Team and then lost a couple of close games to the Wranglers. Don McBirney discouraged those who thought that only certain people could become good debaters. He said. lf more people would really take a good look at debate. they would see how much fun and rewarding the whole experience really was. - 30 - Y Bobbi' Lapin MEMBERS OF THE DEBATE TEAM ARE, TOP ROW: Bobby Lapin, Bob Abib, Todd Carpenter, Jorge Cooper, Don McBirney, Tom Schomburg, Jerry Simon, Jeff Wigley, Hugh Howerton, Mike Perkins, Jay Gross, John Harrison, Chrys Yeargain, John Lee, Steve Reynolds, Steve Shatto, Kim Morris, Will Winsauer, Shannon Tucker, Brad Glosserman, Jim Biohm, Jay Munisteri. BOTTOM ROW: Kyra Butchko, Edgar Ferguson, Linda Ong, Greg Corri- ere, Jeff Stroud, Karen Forsythe, Ann Uhrbroek, John Eubank, Peter Bakken. i 136 ' Debate - Depth design ln' Sz4.r11n.lr1i1c'liini.

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HECKLERS AND GROANERS IN THE CROWDED EXTEMP DRAW found that they had to reckon with Lane Maxcy if they presisted in their noisy behav- ior. Maxcy was in charge of prelimnary procedure at the draw and was often called upon to keep order. Photo by Bill Montgomery. , SORTING THROUGH THE MANY STACKS OF PAPERWORK required to run C-X Debate, Jerry Simon prepares to match up the over 70 teams for another round in the Memorial Tourney. Because of a shortage of rooms, Simon had to run the event at Spring Branch Junior High. Photo by Bill Montgom- ery. TOTAL SILENCE HAD TO BE MAINTAINED during the Extemp Draw so that clear instructions could be given to the contestants. Boy's Extemp Chairman Bobby Lapin and GirI's Extemp Chairman Elizabeth Harrison conduct the needed chores. Photo by Bill Montgomery. work then! 0 Ithough they may not have been as good as exempt study halls. fun classes still had a special appeal to students . . . one hour of anything from reading Paul Revere's Ride in speech to creating a mask of one's own face in art. Work input was low while I grade output was high. For those who did not care to com- plete a full year of blood, sweat, and tears: drama. band. and homemaking. to name a few. fun quarter courses were offered. lt's nice to be able to - say. 0h. good! l get to go to third period now: l egg do my Latin home- MemoriaI's debaters ' l35

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DURING DEBATE CLASS, Senior Elizabeth Har- rison times the debaters. She QEIizabethJ and I debated at Bellaire and Westbury, said Senior Kim Morris. We won two and lost two in prel- ims. Photo by Bill Montgomery. LAST MINUTE HOMEWORK captivates Senior Kim Morris while a debate is held between two of her classmates. I always liked good argu- ments and hearing other people's opinions, said Kim. Once I got in it fDebatej I enjoyed the people that were involved. Photo by Bill Montgomery. THE TIME WAS LATE March. The setting was the Texas State Debate Finals Tour- nament in Waco. The place was a small hotel room on a cold evening on the outskirts of Waco. Inside the confines of many other similar hotel rooms in town were nervous debate teams from all across the state with drawers and files full of thou- sands of evidence cards. The tone of most of these rooms was quiet anticipation. yet in this room. things were somewhat different. Inside this room sat Senior Jay Gross who was laughing and smiling. and Gross has filled his drawers and cases not with evi- dence. but rather with cakes and cookies. Many teams liked to use lots of evidence. and I suppose l'm a bit lazy. said Gross. but I feel speaking to judges with more analysis and persuasion could be equally as effective. Gross, now in his third year of debating. felt he'd gotten more out of taking debate than just improvements on speaking tech- niques. l've really improved upon my self-confidence and I think l've gained a real spirit of camaraderie. he said. Gross felt that the satisfaction of doing well inspired a debater to do well in the many tourna- ments he attended. You gained so many friends and memories just by going to the tourna- ments. Gross said. -30- - Bohln' Lapin Debcle I37