Debate
About Eastview Debate
The Eastview Debate team has produced nine state championships and fifty five national qualifiers. Eastview has been recognized as a National School of Excellence in Debate. With approximately one hundred active members per season, the team is one of the largest in the nation.
Debate is one of the most challenging and rewarding co-curricular activities because competitors strive to improve their public speaking, critical thinking, teamwork, and research skills. Through debate, students are exposed to a variety of current events and public policy topics.
Debates are centered on a resolution, a controversial statement about a current events topic. In every debate the affirmative/pro side speaks in favor of the resolution and the negative/con side speaks against it. Students know the resolution in advance so they can prepare arguments and gather evidence. A debate takes about 40-60 minutes and consists of a series of speeches for and against the resolution. There is also cross-examination. Each debate has a judge who listens carefully to the arguments presented and chooses a winner. Often, the judge is the only audience member. At a typical tournament students debate a total of 4 or 5 times, alternating between affirmative and negative.
Most debate competition takes place at tournaments held on Saturdays from October-December. Most debaters practice from September-December. It is possible to join debate for a portion of the season. For example, those with fall sports may join after their sport has concluded or those with winter sports might debate until their winter sport begins. Debaters typically practice two days per week after school (usually from 2:45-4:30 pm). At practice, debaters learn more about the debate topic through research and discussion, work on their speaking and arguments, and have a little fun in the process. Most debaters are heavily involved in other activities and we do our best to flexibly accommodate other commitments.
Debate Coaching Staff
Head Coach Todd Hering
Todd Hering debated for Stillwater High School from 1989-1991, winning a state championship in 1991. After graduating, he served as an assistant coach at Stillwater from 1991-1994. In 1994, Hering became head debate coach at Stillwater, a position he held until 1997 when he moved to the new Eastview High School in Apple Valley, MN. Hering is currently a social studies teacher and head debate coach at Eastview. He has twice been named Minnesota Debate Teachers Association Coach of the Year, one of two coaches in state history to have won the award twice. He was a 2001 recipient of the MDTA James Graupner Distinguished Service Award. Hering has coached 10 state debate champions, 1 national debate runner-up, 4 state speech champions, and 5 national speech champions.
Assistant Coaches
Randy Bailey
Bryan Baker
Vincent Cheng
Rusty Fified
Ryan Henry
Zach Prax
Caitlin Moran
Greta Thomas
JIllian Welborn