By Lily Ramos
Staff Editor
With a new president to be elected in days, talk of political issues are at the rise, causing a group students with a passion for debate to discuss their views by starting a new political debate club.
The club founders, sophomores Josh Gurgone, Baker Harrington, Max Moseley, and Beckett Navarrette wanted a place where students could debate political issues in a less formal atmosphere than Model United Nations, or in a classroom where students may not feel comfortable, they said.
“Overall the club is going pretty well,” club president Gurgone said. “People are getting to express their opinions and it’s been fun helping people get more involved in political debate.”
Photos: Max Moseley and Josh Gurgone lead Political Debate Club
When the club meets, the topic they will debate for the day is announced, such as gun control or capital punishment. Club members then sit in a circle around the room so they can each add input to the debate. The debate continues when students share their views and respond to one another. This all occurs while a moderator, one of the club leaders, overview and control the debate.
“We want to respect each speaker. We want to give them their proper time like the last speaker was given,” Gurgone said. “If someone thinks that something they believe in relates to a certain topic then we feel that they deserve to talk about that.”
The club is designed to be informal, but some people make it more silly than a serious debate, club leaders said. Nonetheless, they are happy that people are joining the club and participating in the debates, which is the main focus of the club, Moseley said. Even though the club is meant to be a more informal atmosphere it is still fine that people are having fun, they said.
“We are open to all members joining the club, we want them to take it as serious as they can but we also want people to have fun,” Gurgone said.
Gurgone came up with the idea for the club, and organized the other club leaders, after the Young Libertarians Club stopped meeting. Mr. Piper is the advisor for the club and it is held in his classroom; however, he doesn’t participate in the debate but listens to it. Piper was chosen as an advisor because he is a great teacher and sometimes has students talk about politics in his geography class, Moseley said.
“I made the suggestion to reflect more of a panel-like conversation as opposed to doing mini-speeches because the kids weren’t taking the speeches seriously,” Piper said. “It came off as inauthentic and inorganic. Opinions, of course, but opinions based on some familiarity with actual evidence.”
The club has a website, www.miracostapdc.com, and an Instagram account, @miracosta_pdc. There is additionally a forum on the website where club members can continue past debates, suggest debate topics, and debate new topics. Chief secretary of the club Navarrette was the main creator of the website and the forum.
“I think [the forum] is a great place to engage with the club outside of meetings, and a good way for shyer members to debate without having to do it live and in person,” Navarrette said. “It’s a great way for people to continue debates that we started in class.”
All of the club members have different political views, which allows for students and input and keep the debate running fast-paced. Although the club leaders have varying opinions among themselves, they try to stay neutral during the debates, which makes them different than the Young Democrats and Young Republicans clubs, they said.
“At the political debate club we ensure that every side is equally represented through their policies as anyone is free to come up and talk about it,” Gurgone said.
The club meets every Monday in room 203 and has only had three meetings so far, everyone is welcome, the club leaders said. The club’s leaders want to be involved in the club, and plan to continue it as long as they can, they said. In the club’s future, the leaders are going to try to expand the depth of the club’s conversations to more complex issues, Harrington said.
“A lot of people want to come in and they want to discuss these political issues that that might not be affecting them in the moment, but they are affecting a large population of the world,” Harrington said. “It has been really good, and overall, I think people are liking the club and we can go far with it.”
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