1994 Miracle Yearbook

Intense Competition Debate team learns more than just how to debate The tension fills the van on the way to the tournament. Stories of intimidationabouttheopposing teamsleaveasharedtasteofanxietyamong thestudents. Thecoach praysquietly yetconfidentlythateachteam member has prepared himself or herself as best he or she could. You would think that this team wason its way to a soccer tournamentor a baseball tournament. No,this is a typical scene on the way to a debate tournament. Theteam leaves Friday morning and usually returns late Saturday evening. The debate team's coach,Mrs.Deborah Haffey was elected 1993-94 Out- standing Director of Debate for the State of Ohio by the Novice Debate Association. She describes this scene as one of much anxiety. Mrs.Haffey said that the Cedarville Debate Team tries to keep up a good testimonyfortheschool,and moreimportantlyforthe Lord,bybeing honest about their abilities and becoming confident in them. "Because we can respect ourselves,this allows us to be kind to the other schools,"says Mrs.Haffey. The coach from Ball State in Muncie,Indiana said that Cedarville had proventobetheirtoughestcompetition. BallState wasrankedintheTopTen in the country for debate. BallState had alsosaid thatinstead ofcomplainingiftheydonotdoas well asthey hope,Cedarville goeshomeand comesbackthe nextweek prepared. AccordingtoMrs.Haffey,theoverallbenefittocompetingintercollegiately is that it givesstudentsachance to see how theystand against their peers. It also forces the students to think on their feet when they are under pressure, causing them to pay attention to whatthey say. Thestudentshavealsolearnedthatsometimestheycanlose. Butiftheydo, life goes on and there always is next time. *Don Smith With much expression Jeremy Grinnelland Shelly Fox excelin their speaking abilities. After many long hours of practice Mark Totten performsduringthe ForensicsShow- case.