Tekonsha High School - Indian Yearbook (Tekonsha, MI)

Page 31 text:

Debate First row: Jack Fousel, Mr. Mar'inson, Flynore Abel Second row: Velma Dean, Dorothy Martinson, Leo Long, Mildred Relate The debate team v »en first organized this year had eleven members. Mery Baker, George oholes, Ani • II owkins, Beverly Downey, Dorothy Martinson. V 1 i Dean. Mildred Belote, Jack F. usel, Flynore Abel, and Leo Lang all signed up or’g-inally f. i debafe. Some ef t esc people dropped out after a few weeks so there we.e only six left by the end oi the season. Under the guidance of 0. K. Martinson, our coach, we gathered much material on tr.e topic for debate t. is year — Resolved: “That the Un.ted States should ally with Great Britian.” This year Tekonsha debated in the little C, including Homer, Litchfield, Quincy. Bronson, Union City and Tekonsha. Instead of our first debates count ng on standings in the little C, our first six were practice debates. In this way we get a chance to debate against many opponents that we would meet iater in the little C tournament. After these “warm up” debates we went to Albion, December 15, in '8 for our fir ‘ iwliniinary debate. On this day we debated twice, winning from Litchfield and losing to Homer. We again went to Albion, January 11, 1939. This time we won b 'i of the debates, one from Union City and Litchfield. After these debates the final placings in the little C were announced. Homer won first place and Tekonsha second. V i‘h these victories we were in the semi-finals or elimination debates. Our firsL elimination debate was with Montgomery, February 2, 1939. We won and we were one of the thirty-two teams left in the state. Our next one was with Homer and proved to be our last, and our debating was finished for the year. For placing among the first two in the preliminaries, we were presented with a plaque from the Detioit Free Press. 27-

Page 30 text:

Speech Contests DECLAMATION, ORATION and EXTEMPORANEOUS CONTEST A c !I was mat!? shov ly after the Debate seas n 1 »r all people interested in !)' (! iniatmn, Orut.iy and L;;U.mp Speaking to give their names t Dorothy Martinson. In tre Declamation group, Velma Dean, Mildred Belote and Dorothy Martinson elite • d tie I j 1 c iii '.-.id was h ’d on March 17, at t e high school. Elynore Abel in Ex'cmp and Jack Fousel in Oratory had no competition, however, they gave t .eir speeches. Velma Dean, the winner in :er section, gave “Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of In dependence'' b; Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Jack Fousol chose “Cooperatives in a Porn c. cy” » • the subject of his oration. Elynore Abel, who wa giv n one hour previous to t. e time she would speak, had the subject 4 The Spanish Revolution.” Mr. Steele and Mrs. R.C. Hudson judged the local contest. On April 1J, 1939, the winners of the local contest entered the sub-district contest at Hillsdale College where they competed with Bronson, Quincy, Litchfield, Homer, and Union City. Homer received the cup for having the greatest number of points in t e little “C”, Quincy received second place and Litchfield and Tekonsha tied for third place. Velma Dean and Jack Fousel placed fourth in their respective contests and Elynore Abel, talking on “Organized Gambling in Michigan,” placed second. After the contest, the students were taken to interesting places on t. e campus. Dinner was served in the Freshmen Dormitoiy to all contestants and their coaches through t.'.e c curtesy of the college. They were also offered complimentary tickets to “Pinafore”.

Page 32 text:

History Of Debate In 1925-26 Mr. Dendell was debate coach. The persons who debated were Ben Murray, Esther Juckett, Esther McDonald and Esther DeBrular. This team won several debates and were awarded a Detroit Free Press Plaque. In 1926-27 Mrs. Doris Cogswell-Hudson was the debate coach. The same team as in the previous year debated. They were awarded a Detroit Free Press Plaque again. Mrs. Eleanor Householder-Randall acted as debate coach in 1931-32. The debating team was made up of Elizabeth Main, Elizabeth Thurston and Jean Mann. This team was also awarded a Detroit Free Press Plaque. Debating was dropped in 1932 until 1937 when Mr. Martinson was debate coach. The debaters were Betty Smith, Eunice Ball, Jack Fousel, Leo Long and Elynore Abel. This team won several debates including the first state elimination contest debate. They were also awarded a Detroit Free Press Plaque. Our 1938-39 team with Mr. Martinson as coach included Leo Long, Jack Fousel and Elynore Abel with the practice team made up of Mildred Belote, Dorothy Martinson and Velma Dean. The team won several preliminary debates and the first elimination debate. They were defeated in the second elimination debate by the Homer team, which won to the state semi-finals after defeating Tekonsha. We have a plaque for this year’s debating.