Membership is open to any student at Langham Creek HS. You do not have to be in the class to be on the team. If you want to join, or just get more information about the team, please stop by room 1914 any time after school and talk to Mr. Beane, or any of the Debate II-IV students.
That being said, please consider joining the Debate class. If you choose to take the Debate track, you qualify for the business endorsement on your high school diploma. This is an important edge for future employment and college opportunities. Plus, we have a lot of fun in class!
Members of the LCHS Debate team are held to a high standard of conduct in and out of class. Membership expectations are as follows:
Team Members must be passing ALL of their classes in order to compete at ANY tournament. No Pass, No Play applies.
You are expected to wear APPROPRIATE tournament attire (business casual) at all times when we are at a competition.
Repeated behavior problems could lead to suspension from tournaments and other competitive opportunities on a case-by-case basis.
If you register for a tournament and have to cancel at the last minute, YOU are responsible for any and all drop fees.
Students are expected to ride district transportation to and from tournaments. Parents may sign out their student at an in-district tournament ONLY.
Eric Beane is the Director of Speech & Debate at Langham Creek High School. This is Eric's eighth year serving as the Head Coach for the LCHS Speech & Debate Program. For five years Eric was an Assistant Debate Coach at Katy-Taylor High School where his students were met with success on the local, state and national level.
Some of Eric's coaching accomplishments include:
Students received their TFA State (Texas Forensics Association) Qualification every year
Awarded the 2011 Michael Bacon Coaching Award, which is given to the top assistant coach in the country, as voted on by their peers.
His students have won the UIL State championship in Policy Debate (6A)
His students have placed 2nd and 3rd at the TFA State championship in Policy Debate and Lincoln-Douglas Debate.
Students qualified to the Tournament of Champions (National Championship) in Policy Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate and Congressional Debate.
His Policy Debate team won both the California Round Robin (invitation limited to the top 16 teams in the nation) and the UC Berkeley Invitational (One of the most prestigious TOC invitational tournaments).
In high school, Eric qualified to TFA state in Policy Debate, attended NSDA Nationals in Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and cleared to the elimination rounds of multiple TOC invitationals. In college, Eric participated in the University of Houston's Policy Debate team, where at one point he was ranked in the top 50 teams in the nation.
Jacob McKinley is returning for his third year to help prepare our speech & debate students for competition as well as serving as our school judge at competitions around the country. Mr. McKinley will be traveling with us on all of our out of town/state trips and serving as one of our adult chaperones.
During his time as a student, Mr. McKinley competed in competitive extemporaneous speaking as well as finishing as the state champion in academic decathlon in 2011.