Tomorrow, the classrooms at KHS will be filled with students debating their sides in the annual Big Question Debate. The project is a collaboration between English teachers Jen Luckey, Joy Dewing, Leslie Lewis, Michael Marvin, Aaron Blessing and Rose Mullinix. 

“It is absolutely my favorite time of the school year,” Luckey said. “It’s my favorite because I get to teach students that I don’t normally have how to debate and see their bright minds in action.”

As the debate coach, Luckey started hosting the Big Question Debate to encourage students to try debate. The project serves as a way for students to learn argumentation.

“They learn to put an argument in claim/warrant/impact structure and mirror their rebuttals in the same structure.  But the second important thing they gain is confidence.  After the debate is over, most students claim that they could do that again and are pleased with their performance,” Luckey said. 

This year’s debate topic is the claim “Humans are fundamentally different than animals.”

Senior Bethany Burns was assigned to debate the affirmative side, which means she is defending the claim. 

“I am doing extensive research to come up with the three main claims that I’ll use to support my argument, as well as argue against our opponent’s possible claims,” she said.

Sophomore Myra Weicht is the second speaker in her group. She’s been preparing by looking at possible contentions from the negative and making constructive arguments.

“I am looking forward to seeing the other side's opinion,” she said. “I love getting to have a rebuttal.”

Students across all grades will compete in the Big Question Debate tomorrow to earn one of the top prizes. This year marks the highest participation.

“We have a record number of students debating this year at 195,” Luckey said. “We award the top 15 teams, and most will go 3-0 in order to win a ribbon.”