Only in debate are there points awarded for speaking, and this weekend, sophomore Winston Jeffries and junior Harmony Wilson took second and third respectively for speaker awards at the JMU Debate Tournament.

The tournament was a two day event, with three rounds on Friday, Dec. 4 and three rounds on Saturday, Dec. 5, making a full weekend of debating for the team.

“It was very long and tedious. It was a lot of competition and a lot of rounds,” Jeffries said.

Wilson expressed similar feelings, describing the tournament as the best and the worst experience ever with debate. For Wilson, her hard work was rewarded by breaking for finals.

“[It was] really exciting to break for finals obviously, but so exhausting just constant day and night, all debating,” Wilson said.

Wilson and Jeffries were the only two HHS debaters to win speaker awards. Although Jeffries did not go on to compete in the semi-finals elimination round as did Wilson and senior debater Ellie Plass, he was able to win speaker points because a debate round is judged in two ways. The first is how well you are as a speaker, which is awarded on a scale of points from 1-30, one being poor and 30 being as best as possible. The second thing debaters are judges on is whether or not you win the round with your case and your rebuttal.

“When you take your win and loss record and you put the speaker points [on] additionally, it’s its own category, so I won third overall in my category for being a third best speaker essentially,” Wilson said.

Both debaters felt that the JMU Debate Tournament was a great learning experience. Wilson expressed that competing with people around your own level is a great experience. Jeffries felt that the tournament was useful because it showed a lot of different cases and how different people took different approaches to their cases, so it was a valuable experience to have to face opponents without knowing their cases ahead of time.

Jeffries, Wilson, and all the HHS debaters know what they need to work on for the next tournament after competing in the JMU Debate Tournament. Jeffries plans on revising his case several times.

“This is one of the reasons I feel that I probably didn’t get into an elimination round, was because I should have revised my case several times more than I did. I should have perfected that a bit more,” Jeffries said.

Wilson hopes to be wiser with her case writing and her approach to different topics in future tournaments. Now that she knows what to expect, she plans to have cross examination questions prepared beforehand.

Although there are things Jeffries and Wilson want to work on for the future, Wilson, having competed at the JMU Debate Tournament for the first time is eager to return.

 “I definitely can’t wait to go back next year,” Wilson said. 

Gallery • 4 Photos

Ellie Plass

Debate teacher Aaron Cosner and alumni Evan Dotas wait for the awards.