It’s not common a school club encourages students yelling at each other, but if you enjoy making and proving a statement under pressure, debate club is the place for you.

As the school year kicks off, the Utica Debate team is starting strong preparing for their fall topic “China.” Debate is open to all students, and no experience is required. Debate is a good opportunity to learn teamwork skills and useful research tips that are able to be used in real life. The students involved learn other very important life skills like communication.

“Politics are fun to talk about and we incorporate a lot of that into our cases,” returning junior Kirk Rasmussen said.

Having strong opinions is key to a good case. Debate allows for students of different political standings to come together and discuss their opinions and beliefs while incorporating them into a winning argument. Some of the best pairs are those of opposite sides.

“My political opinions directly opposing my partner’s gives us a better opportunity to have the strongest case because we get both sides and both of us like to talk,” junior Mena Murrani said, giving insight to the environment and interactions.

Debate meets in the media center after school on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays until 4 p.m..