Sammamish High School - Thunderbird Yearbook (Bellevue, WA)

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Upper right: Sammamish squad at S.P.S. prepare for their events. Lbper Conine and Chris Fitzgerald preparing for rebuttal. Opposite page: De- left: Careen Corrine delivers winning speech at Issaquah. Lower left: haters eye view of debate box. Debate coach, Val Foubert, eyes competition. Lower right: Caren we W i ' t me i 3 w WD bat Imagine that last year in a fit of curiosity, which has killed many cats. you marked that innocent looking blank which preceeds a class called Debate. Upon entering 308 for the first time you are convinced that because of Mr. Val Fou- bert's likeness to a 40 year old Charlie Brown. this class will be sweatless. But a few days later, your conception of a sweatless class has melted. The first blast of hot air ar- rives the day you hear the topic you will be debating all year. RESOLVE: That the foreign aid program of the United States should be limited to non-military assistance. What's resolve'? What's military aid. let alone, non- military assistancel? The next item dissolves your candy- coated conception to a pool, vaguely resembling tears. Mr. Foubert announces that you must Hprepare a seven minute speech to persuade which will be somewhat akin to an extemperaneous talk. Good grief. WHAT'S a per- suasive talk? What's extemperaneous stuff, anyway? Moreover, what are you doing in this class: you sit in your desk, hoping that your holding the desk tightly will keep you from bolting for the door. A little later you realize that all your blood has drained to your feet which would make running impossible. but by now, it's too late. The 1 ,vr -3 4 JI, li wx, X An thin class is leaving and you haven't a soul to help you pry your fear-frozen fingers from their death grip on the desk. Mr. Foubert glances at you recognizing the symptoms: after teaching debate for so long he has met quite a few like you. As he approaches. he faces the new you. the pale faced, wild eyed. rigid backed you, with white knuckles beginning to dent the desk. He knows he'd best do some- thing quickly. You sob. How can I persuade all these kids about anything?! I've never read Time, Newsweek, or the Christian Science Monitor. As he sits down, you are once again struck with his uncanny resemblance to Charlie Brown, lacking only the proper nose. Mr. Foubert says, The purpose of this class is to teach you these thingsg you're not expected to know them now. Then you realize that everyone will be searching out the deep black mysteries of Time, Newsweek, and the Christian Science Monitor, as well as learning about debating, dramatic interpretations, extemporaneous speaking, oratory and impromptu. Apparently. this year's debaters have learned quite a bit.

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THE SNOW

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Q ut Sweatlessw judging from their record. The advanced debaters have eight wins with only one loss from King Co League de- baters. The Junior division has fourteen wins with two losses. The combined efforts of both divisions secured for Sammamish the top award at their first major tourna- ment. the sweepstakes. By January 20th and 21st bringing with it Sammamish's second opportunity to demonstrate their talents behind the podium, they had earned a formid- able reputation. When Chris Fitzgerald and Caren Conine told their opponents from whose hallowed halls they hailed they sent them ducking behind their cards and muttering 'sOh, no. At this tournament. which was held at Seattle Pacific College. the Sammamish debate squad placed eight speakers among the semifinalists. Of these, three went on to represent their squad in the tournaments final rounds. At SPC Sammamish placed fifth out of the fifty-six schools which entered. However. earning the squad's good reputation was not all as fun as looking through thousands of magazines for debate, extemp, impromptu, or oratory: or libraries of books of poems and plays for dramatic interpretations. Some of it was hard. It was hard to believe that at one of the league debates housewives were used to judge, house- wives who didn't know the difference between a well supported piece of evidence and falacial reasoning. Some- thing not quite as frustrating as housewife judges but a good deal more nerve-shattering were 308's temporary tenants. This year the squad shared the room with fifteen squiggly black spiders who crept out through cracks in the wall to run relay races in the front of the room. An- other strain was the band. They practice seventh period and have miraculously found a way to bounce their good vibrations off one of the portables. into the open windows of 308. Most debaters agree that the band has a good sound this year, however, just try to refute the second to last illogical piece of evidence supporting the first af- firmative contention tothe tune of f'Hey! Look Me Over! Mr. Foubert once said this about all beginning debate teams: They're sure they'll die but I know they won't. Strangely enough he's right. They live to see many tourna- ments even though they have nightmares about dropping their debate boxes which are stuffed with sweat stained 3 x 5 note cards.