I can remember listening to the national champions of NCFCA, Stoa, and other national debate leagues — clicking on their published YouTube videos highlighted in their online hall of fame. Not because I was bored, but rather, in order to take meticulous notes on the things that they did well, from their organizational tactics down to the funny phrases that embodied their personal style. And while this helped me for a little while, I began to notice something that I found refle

by Robert Kimzey (alumni dad) I recently read an article about assisted dying. The author argued that religious beliefs, like the sanctity of human life rooted in faith, should have no place in a secular society’s laws. He framed assisted dying as a matter of personal freedom, dignity, and compassion, and described it as giving individuals control over the timing of death, akin to choices around birth or marriage. How did the author reach this conclusion? He approached it

by Brennan Schiltz, NCFCA Alumnus I know what you’re thinking. Brennan power-tags his articles like he power-tagged in debate (at least I am self-aware). Learning the moral in this story won me more than just a national’s slot at an online mixer - it also helped me at nationals beating cases I had never heard of before. I remember finishing my junior year, when my partner pointed out that we had not lost a round “without a brief” that season, even though we’d debated over

by Violet Paone, NCFCA Alumna Throughout my life, I have never been a clear and confident speaker. Even as I watch old videos of me speaking, it’s sometimes hard for me to understand what I was trying to say and I have to rely on context to understand what I am saying. I’m not sure if my issue was a speech impediment or not, but I definitely struggled to communicate because of how I spoke. It was not uncommon for people to ask me to repeat sentences, raise my volume, or to s