Volume VI Issue I

Debating on joining the Debate Club?

Debate club is an after school extra curricular designed to teach students, argument format, improvisation, on the spot thinking, and public speaking. The Debate Club can lead you into fields of law and prove useful to many other lines of work. Students work with Mr. Castaldo in order to face off against other schools in the county. A resolution is given at the beginning of each season, the 2023-2024 resolution is “The United States federal government should substantially increase fiscal redistribution in the United States by adopting a federal jobs guarantee, expanding Social Security, and/or providing a basic income.” You and your fellow members are encouraged to choose between an affirmative or negative standpoint. Then, you must carefully prepare your argument in order to have the judge and spectators side with your argument. Debate helps students prepare for college and future occupation, learn improv techniques, studying and research skills, as well as learn to see both sides of an argument in order to defend your speech against your opponent’s criticism.

The 2022-2023 Steinert debate team was led to victory in the Mercer debate championship by alumni Fadi Farag, and Evan Ziccardi. When asked how he hoped to prepare students to live up to the standard set by the two alumni in the previous year, Mr. Castaldo responds “ With losing several key seniors last year to graduation, we were fortunate to have AJ DiFalco (one of the CVC's top performers) return and take on a key leadership role; we have been successful at overcoming early obstacles out of the gate.” Debate club shapes leaders for the future teaching students a wide variety of useful skills. It’s no debate that Debate Club is the perfect addition to your schedule for the upcoming year.