Auburn School District No. 408
915 4th Street Northeast, Auburn, WA  98002

3/22/06

NEWS RELEASE
Auburn High School Wins State Debate Championship

The Auburn High School Debate team won the State Debate Championship on March 17-18, the third time in the last four years.

Three forms of debating contests are offered at the finals: cross examination (CX), Lincoln-Douglas (LD), and Student Congress. Auburn Seniors Nathan Cohn and Katy Ferguson captured first place in CX debate, and the team of seniors Ryan Morgan and Jackie Lawrence took fifth place in CX debate. CX speaker awards went to Cohn, second place, Morgan, fourth place, and Lawrence, fifth place.

In LD debate, Auburn senior Bryan Leonard finished in third place. He also won the Top Speaker award in LD this year. No Auburn High students participated in Student Congress.

Cross-examination debate, commonly referred to as policy debate, means two-person teams alternately debate an Affirmative round for and a Negative round against a debate resolution developed by the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) used throughout the academic year. This year’s resolution focused on curtailing the U.S. federal government’s ability to either detain without charge or to search without probable cause. Lincoln-Douglas debate, known as value debate, is named after the seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in the fall of 1858, when the two candidates vied for the Illinois seat in the Senate. In LD debate, one student debates against another, alternating sides on resolution that changes every two months. The topic at State was whether juveniles charged with violent crimes should be tried and punished as adults.

For more information, please contact Bob Horlick, Auburn High School Director of Forensics, at (253) 931-4719.