Sara Tabibzadeh

Staff Writer

On November 4, during the Commemoration Town Meeting for Itzchak Rabin, two members of the Debate Team had a debate for the first time in front of the entire school.

The Debate Team is open to all students, and holds its practices during lishma and Thursdays during lunch. Although there is a semester class entitled Speech and Debate, one need not be a part of this class to join the team.

November 20, Milken’s Debate Team participated in the Annual Debate Tournament, which is part of a league including New Community Jewish High School (New Jew) and Oaks Christian School. The first tournament was hosted at Milken, with the following ones hosted by the other two schools.

Milken did very well at the competition, competing against the other two schools from 12:00-4:00 at Milken Middle School. Eden Jablon ’13 won Lincoln-Douglas, a one-on-one debate, Alex Weil ’14 and Gabriel Kachuck ’14 were runner-ups for public forum, a two-on-two debate, and Milana Bockur Dratver ’14 and Sydney Berenholtz ’14 were runner-ups for Impromptu, in which students are required to speak for five minutes on a randomly assigned topic given to them a minute before.

Any students can participate in future tournaments if spaces are free, and freshmen are especially encouraged to participate. This year, a new feature has been introduced that tracks the Debate Team individuals’ records on a website. The person with the best record will win something at the end of the three tournaments.

Participating in the tournament or being a part of the Debate Team will help students in all of their classes and will help them establish their style by the time they need to write and present their Senior Sermon. By joining the team or taking part in any of the competitions, you will also get the incredibly fashionable Debate Team sweatshirt, which the team has made for the first time this year.

To learn more or sign up, please email Mr. Savage at [email protected].

Featured image courtesy of redstaplerchronicles.com.