If you were to ask an ordinary person to argue whether or not India should have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, he or she would probably have no idea how to answer that question.

There is, however, a group of Bearden students who would know just how to address the issue, but that group wants to grow.

The Bearden debate team, sponsored by Mrs. Nescha Lee, is led by seniors Jesse Mullins and Ryan McIntyre. 

“I love arguing, and it’s such a good opportunity to become super articulate and great at getting people on your side,” McIntyre said. “To me, there is absolutely nothing more satisfying than destroying someone’s argument and making them concede they are wrong.” 

Active the whole school year, they attend tournaments from about October to March, usually making it to four or five. Before tournaments, they prep for a certain topic, but the topic changes every two months. 

“We do a lot of stuff,” senior Kristy Dean said. “There’s a really big variety. My favorite was whether or not South Korea should deploy anti-missile systems, so there’s political stuff like that.”

Although they must research their topic and learn everything they can about it, the challenge does not stop there; they don’t know what side they must argue for until right before the debate. 

“Once you get to the tournament, you flip a coin, and you get to decide which side you get to argue, so you have to look at both sides,” Dean said. 

Anyone can join Debate Team, but they’re looking for members who are willing to put in the work. This work involves speech writing, researching, and public speaking. Despite the potential challenges, the experience offers many benefits. 

“It’s a way to expand your horizons because there’s a lot of topics where you first read it, and you think, ‘I feel this way about it,’ and then you get into the research, and you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s not so black-and-white,’” Dean said. “It’s a really good way of thinking about things differently.” 

Debate Team meets on Wednesdays right after school in Room 319, and they encourage anyone interested to give them a visit.