SVHS Debate Team Headed to Nationals

Name: Kara Flageollet, 18, and Laynie Stephens, 16

School: St. Vincent de Paul High School

Accomplishment: Kara, a senior and Laynie, a junior, advanced further than any other SVHS debate in a tournament in February, helping the school's team become the top-ranking debate team in the entire Bay Area. Now they will head to the national debate tournament in Scranton, Penn. next month, one of only two teams from the school to qualify.

Key to Awesomeness: “As a policy debater, you have to be really bright; you are reading college and even grad school level material, some of it really dense,” says Laila McClay, director of speech and debate St. Vincent de Paul High School. “And you have to persevere and be really focused, which both Kara and Laynie are.”

This year, policy debaters are focusing on a complext topic-- U.S. military presence in the Middle East and Asia. To prepare, they have to read material and then practice debating...both sides of the issue.

“It takes tremendous focus,” McClay says. “And a lot of hard work…Debaters spend at least 30 hours a week preparing and practicing. It’s like having a job.”

The dedication is paying off. Recently, recruiters from UC Berkeley, USC and Gonzaga University have been speaking with Kara, who will graduate this June. And even though Laynie has one more year, she has already been approached by Stanford University.