Homewood’s debate team will once again compete in BADL, the Birmingham Area Debate League, participating in two competitions in the fall and two this spring. 

Since not having a debate team for the past few years due to COVID-19 and resorting to Zoom debates, the previous 12 members graduated. There are now two freshmen and two sophomores participating, including Briley Lafferty.

“It’s really fun to get out there with people who are older than us and either beat them or lose to them and learn something new,” said Lafferty, a sophomore.

Lafferty says Jason Kennah, the HHS debate coach, teaches them public speaking to improve their argument-making skills and give them an advantage during debates.

“[At the fall competitions,] we did well enough to get our feet wet and understand what’s coming up,” Kennah said.

Kennah says that all teams write their own arguments for debates, preparing to debate pro and con.

They have their first spring semester competition on Feb. 28 at Samford University.

Last semester they debated having high-speed railroads in the United States, and now they’re preparing to debate an arguably more controversial topic in diplomacy in Western Asia. 

“It’s iffy because the resolution itself is a little too vague,” Kennah said. He says that there isn’t much information out there on the topic, so every team is having the same struggles. 

Similarly, Lafferty and fellow debate member Avery Hill, a freshman, explained that there isn’t a lot of non-opinionated information that they can find to use in their arguments. 

“When every team is in the same boat, it’s going to be interesting,” Kennah said.