The Start of Something New

High School Musical, while being one of America’s favorite cult classics, has taught me many lessons over the years. Firstly, it was to never date a boy with a bowl cut. And second, never be afraid of trying something new, or being yourself.

As I stood with sweaty palms alongside my newly formed World Schools team, a mix-and-match combination of people, I tried to keep that in mind. It was my freshman year, and after a three-month stint in Public Forum, I was desperate for a debate event that wasn’t extremely technical. My school was largely Public Forum and Lincoln Douglas dominated- even speech and interpretation events weren’t the norm. So, when my best friend Charlize suggested I join a new event, World Schools, my initial response was a No. While Charlize and I were close, I couldn’t understand why she wanted to pioneer an event that everyone laughed at. 

But after growing sick of evidence cutting and cards, I decided to give it a shot. Besides, if it didn’t work out…I could always find something else.

However, I quickly found myself attached to my team. We were a random group of people, friends of friends, kids who formerly quit Elkins Debate but rejoined just for their team fees’ worth. Our first practice was at a karate dojo, our speeches made in empty hallways. When a full debate meeting was called, we were laughed at by every single member in the room for asking about a tournament. 

High School Musical hadn’t prepared me for this.

This was before the World of Words Institute, or other debate initiatives, were popular, so my team decided to teach ourselves with the limited resources we had. Our first case was written off of the NSDA’s example format, which meant I referred to the judge as “Chairperson” and ourselves as “Side Government” every round. We went into our first tournament having a collective panic attack, bewildered and confused over what we were supposed to do. I vividly remember my first speech being an absolute disaster.

But it is out of disasters that we grow. We persevered. We took the jabs from our other team members, the doubt of our supervisors, and we became better. My team and I would spend hours poring over our old RFDs, highlighting criticism, and reciting our cases, over and over. Surprisingly, it was only by throwing ourselves in the fire that we improved.

When my sophomore year rolled around, a spark had been lit inside of all of us. We no longer wanted to stick to the status quo. Training ourselves had been a challenge, but we quickly realized that without proper teaching of new members, the event in which we put our heart and soul would die. My fellow team member (and excellent friend) Jaydev would peruse through debate websites, copy files to our shared Google Drive, and use them to write curriculum for our novices. We didn’t just stop there- any new team we ran into at a tournament, I’d offer to share our resources with, proudly watching as they grew into confident speakers.

Throughout my years of high school, helping improve the accessibility of World Schools is one of the things I am most proud of. Most schools go through the same situation that my team did, where World Schools is not taken seriously; it is not seen as “real debate.” Especially in the South Texas area, which is very different from North Texas, Worlds is still growing in strength and popularity. New teams are being added to tournaments every day, but they still struggle to improve due to a lack of coaching and awareness about this event.

Essentially, this article was written for two reasons. First, to encourage those who are interested in World Schools to give it a try. Many think that World Schools is fun and want to experience it, but are put off by its supposed obscurity. Or, perhaps, they went through the same opposition I did. My friends and I are a testament to what World Schools is; we are so incredibly grateful that we decided to give it a chance. Truly, it is worth it.

Second, I want to call for action. I’m so thankful for the friends (students and coaches) I’ve made on this circuit (to those who are reading this, hi!). We have all ended up in the wonderful world of this event, and now it is our time to give back. This can look like multiple things. After rounds, reach out to the new novice team you just hit and offer to help them out. Spread the word about initiatives such as WOWI, Equality in Forensics, and WSD Nexus, which strive to help new debaters. World Schools is defined by the NSDA as an accessible debate event, but it can only be one if we make it so. 

It is our moment to pay it forward, to make space for new voices and opportunities for new ideas. At the end of the day, all of us are team members, debate family, and friends- we’re all in this together. So let’s get our heads in the game, break free, and help create the start of something new.