Cedars, February 2019

T hough I’ve been involved in a lot of things in my 2.75 years at Cedarville — classic CedarOverCommitted — by far my favorite thing has been the debate team. This is a bit of a love letter to the practice of debate and a bit of an expression of hope that the team will continue to get better at Cedarville. My first year, I was absolutely terri- fied walking into debate tryouts. I had de- cided to do it because I couldn’t yet join the Model UN team, which at that point in my life I considered my true passion (I still do MUN at Cedarville, which is really fun and world-dominatey, but that’s for another article). I had never debated in my life. My tryout partner had been debating for four years in high school. We had to debate whether there should be a minimum wage in front of all the former debaters. I stood up, stuttered my way through a speech and wanted to melt into the floor. ​There’s no way I got that, ​I remember thinking. ​This is why you don’t try new things. To my great surprise, about a week later I got a letter invit- ing me to join the team. I was, naturally, shocked, but decided to give it a shot. Attending team meetings, I was so overwhelmed by the jargon. ​What’s a turn? What’s an impact? What’s inherency? I should not have done this. Helpppppp. In fact, I kept going to tournaments with the team, and though I loved hanging out with this group of smart, witty, polit- ically aware crowd, I was really feeling like I didn’t belong. Sure, we had fun goofing off together on the car rides and in the hotel pools (getting all your meals and accommodations paid for — plus scholarship — is seriously such a gift). But I was doing terribly at the tournaments. I would lose four out of six rounds. I thought about quitting so many times. Though I was contracted for the year, I thought I would quit first semester of my sophomore year — aka, ASAP. Still with me on this memoir-like journey? Something changed in me when we went to Nationals in Colo- rado Springs. We flew out to the beautiful mountains. My partner was now my good friend (and future roommate) Becca, and we were having a really good time. I also had a tiny crush on a really smart, really funny junior debater, and he had a tiny crush on me. (We’ve been dating for a year and a half now.) But ... neither of these things was the reason I decided to join. That tournament, I had ​fun​. I finally understood what was going on — the parts of a speech, the way to respond to arguments as quickly and efficiently as possible. And over time, my rounds start- ed to get funner (it’s a word). We debated whether or not Trump had dementia in a round about whether he should be impeached. One time, the opposing team stood up and said, “We give up, we agree with them.” (We won that one, no shocker.) One time I acci- dentally argued that capitalism is really effective and also that we should dismantle all economic systems and just live in communes, in the same speech. (I lost that one, no shocker.) It was in debate that I finally learned how to think for myself. I could critically take an idea and think,​what did I learn about this growing up? What does the Bible say about this? What do my friends say about this? What does history say about this?​And then finally: ​What do I think about this? I met some of my closest friends, traveled all over the Mid- west and as far as Georgia and Colorado, debated silly things and serious things, won and lost, and found myself. Somehow, that goofy freshman who barely understood what the minimum wage was is co-captain now. That’s what I call a pretty radical change. At Cedarville, we have rarely had an official debate coach, and in that way we’re not like any other sport. The truth is that they’re just hard to find, especially for a Christian school. We had to tran- sition to a smaller league this year for many reasons, but we’re still trying our best to create a community where any idea is welcome — you just have to defend it. So ... want to come join? Alexandria Hentschel is a junior International Studies and Span- ish double major and the Off-Campus news editor for Cedars. She enjoys old books, strong coffee and honest debate. February 2019 3 How can Christians bring honor to Christ through art? Zac Benson Assistant Professor of Ceramics/ Sculpture/3D Being an artist is a calling. Thus, when you are being creative, it is bringing honor to Christ. If you represent Him in your daily life and allow him to come through your art, that will be honoring to Him. If you are struggling to understand how you could represent Him, start by caring for what He cares for and allow that to come through your art. Christ cares for the poor, the widows, the lonely, the young, the old, the orphans, the unprotected, the refugees, the politicians, the brother, the mother and your neighbor. If Christ cares about all of these (as we can see from His Word) then we should care for them whatever we are doing. If you are making art, care for them through your art. You should also care about Truth. His Truth. It does not waver and it does not turn void. Being able to stand firm in the marketplace on the Word and the Truth is incredibly hard. With that being said, what else would you rather do than follow in the Creator’s footsteps and speak His Truth to the masses. That is what I do! It is an incredibly rich and fulfilling life. What more could you want in life? Just Sayin’ ... Alex Hentschel What I’ve Learned From Debate Team BEOC (Big Event Off Campus) S pring B reak March 2-10, Anywhere But Here As much as we all love being on campus, it’s nice to change pace. Enjoy your break going on a missions trip, vacationing, binge-watching Netflix, or working on that massive final project.