Viroqua High School - Pipe of Peace Yearbook (Viroqua, WI)

Page 78 text:

Miss Conrad J. Nixon E. Hendrickson H. Buchanan A. R. Gross There were about thirty students who tried out for debate in De- cember, before Christmas vacation, from whom nine were chosen. After vacation every one was soon hard at work, inspired by a desire to be on one team or the other. When the teams themselves were picked, we found that John Nixon from the Junior High was first speaker, Eldon Hendrickson was second speaker, and Harold Buchanan was third speaker. V The first debate was held on February 5, 1926, between Richland Center and Viroqua, the question being: Resolved: That Congress shall be given the power by Federal amendment to regulate the employment of all persons under eighteen years of age. The affirmative team went to Rich- land Center and, in a heated and interesting debate, met the Richland Cen- ter team, composed of three girls. The decision was two to one in favor of our opponents, and we are sure that they had to work to earn it. The fourth debate was held at Viroqua on March 8, 1926, between Tomah,s negative team and our affirmative. There was, at this debate, only one judge, an expert from La Crosse, Mr. M. E. Goff. He gave Viroqua the decision and explained very clearly why his decision was in our favor. N eedless to say, this decision at the closing debate of the year pleased us very much. hgzn.

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Mr. Powers M. Opsahl A.- Solverson R. Nelson G. Bishop The Viroqua High School Corn J udging team represented our school at Menominee, Wisconsin, for the year of 1926, and captured the state championship against all the other high schools of the state. The team consisted of Rudolph Nelson, captain, Maynard Opsahl, and Gerald Bishop, with Albert Solverson as alternate. The team that represented Viroqua had great success, and scored the highest average that a corn judging team has ever scored at the state contest. The team made 294 points out of a possible 300; giving each member of our team an average of 98, truly a re- markable average. The local team, in recognition of their splendid effort, received a fine silver loving cup from the Wisconsin Experiment Station. The team left about nine otclock Thursday morning on a cold, raw, late November day, by car, With their coach, Mr. Power. The afternoon warmed up considerably, and Menominee was reached about 4:30 that af- ternoon. They at once proceeded to the Armory, where the grain show was being held, and were amazed at the splendid display of grain and forage, sent from all over the state. The team found this display one of the most interesting things that they had ever seen. A little later they had to find a place to stay, which was quite difficult, because nearly all rooms in town were taken. The team j udged on Friday about eleven olclock, and left about noon for Viroqua. The team enjoyed the trip very much, and wish to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Power publicly for the help he gave them. eagle.

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Miss Conrad C. Tollefson M. Smith G. Tenny C. Weavil The negative team consisted of Cyrus Tollefson as first speaker, Marion Smith as second speaker, and Genevieve Tenney as third speaker. This team had the honor of giving the first debate in Viroqua which took place on the same day that the affirmative team went to Richland Center. Their opponents consisted of three boys who comprised the affirmative team from Richland Center. The decision given by Mr. Thomas of La Crosse High School, Mr. Meinecke of Cashton, and Mr. Wheelock of the Vernon County Normal was two to one in favor of Viroqua, which of course pleased everyone. At this debate there was a great show of high school spirit which was very much appreciated by the debaters. The second debate was to have been held February 12, with Mazo- manie, but they forfeited the debate to Viroqua with a decision of six to nothing. The third debate was held at Viroqua, February 19, between the affirmative team from La Crosse and our own negative team. In this de- bate the j udges were Rev. Pfaffman, Mr. Gulbrandsen, and Mr. Smith. This time the decision was three to nothing in favor of Viroqua. Thus in this year,s program, we won three out of the four debates, which was the total number of debates in which we took part. Not at all a bad record, we think. Much of the credit is due to our coach, Miss Conrad, who worked long and faithfully With her teams. aagh