Info About Penn Debate

For all incoming Penn freshmen (and upperclassmen who may be interested in joining our debate team):

The Commissars (Officers) of the Penn Debate Team are happy that you have taken time to visit our blog. Here is some basic information for any and all who are interested in joining the Penn Debate team:

Type of Debate

Penn Debate competes on the national NFA-LD college circuit. NFA-LD is similar to both high school policy debate (in that resolutions deal with a policy issue that should be addressed by the United States federal government) and high school Lincoln-Douglas debate (in that NFA-LD is a one-on-one debate activity).

Over the course of the debate season (running from September to April), we travel to tournaments in such diverse locations as

• Columbus, OH (with beautiful Ohio State University and its hundreds of identical red brick buildings)
• Easton, PA (home of the Crayola factory and unnecessarily complicated traffic patterns)
• St. Louis, MO (where you can see that big metal arch thing)
• Manchester, NH (what? you haven't heard of that city before? really? it's like the biggest city in New Hampshire? it has an airport and everything! still no? never mind.)
• Boston, MA (where you can make fun of Harvard kids)
• Omaha, NE (there isn't really anything to say about Omaha)

Tradition of Success

The Penn Debate Team has a long history of success. Over the past ten years, numerous Penn debaters have reached elimination rounds in the NFA national tournament, and we have even racked up a national championship.

Becoming a Member

Individuals of all levels of debate experience are welcome and encouraged to join. Individuals with high school debate experience (either in policy, Lincoln Douglas, or public forum) have found it easy to make the transition to NFA-LD, and individuals with no debate experience whatsoever have found the activity easy to learn.

Benefits of Joining

1) Academic Enrichment

As anyone who has done debate in the past will tell you, debate makes you a better speaker, a better writer, and, overall, a better thinker. Many Penn debaters have enjoyed considerable academic success; for example, former Penn Debate Captain Joyce Meng is now a Rhodes Scholar studying at Oxford.

2) Research Experience

Penn places a huge focus on conducting original research, both inside the classroom and independently. Penn Debate can teach you the skills and give you the experience you need to become a successful researcher (and impress potential employers).

3) Exciting New Friends

Of course, most clubs at Penn will give you the opportunity to meet new people. But very few will give you the chance to really get to know these people by collaborating with them on research projects and traveling around the country to compete against other schools.

4) Natural Male Enhancement

Not really.

---General Secretary Noah Rosenthal