Nicole Williams is a recent graduate of Solon High School who competed on the circuit for four years. Here, she offers her thoughts on Lincoln Douglas as an event, as well as how the debate scene has impacted her as a whole.

After competing in speech and debate for 6 years, in high school and middle school, I can confidently speak on the positive impact it has had on me. The sphere of speech and debate creates a platform for students to orate, debate, and act with constructive criticism to build their skills. In a time where productive discourse is more crucial than ever activities like speech and debate are increasingly important. While lots of work still needs to be done to make the activity more inclusive and accessible this organization’s commitment to working to be better is admirable.

Lincoln Douglas specifically helps students grow three crucial skills.

First, analytical skills. These skills are built in all debate events but LD debaters are forced to go deeper. They have to first find a philosophical framework to base their case around which forces them to understand the deeper meaning of philosophical arguments. Then, they have to connect these philosophical arguments to contentions and evidence that they have analyzed. I believe this type of analysis allows for evidence to be more deeply understood because of this philosophical lens.

The next skill that is developed is a hard work ethic. As Lincoln Douglas is a single person event debaters are forced to carry themselves through each round on their own. It builds independence and forces each debater to understand the ins and outs of their arguments as they don’t have a partner to fall back on. Without building a hard work ethic success in LD is a hard thing to obtain.

The last skill that is developed is universal to all debate events, extemporaneous speaking skills. Debate has helped me immensely in improving my skills of thinking on my feet and formulating arguments as I go. I believe traditional LD is one of the best debate events to also assist with speaking skills. Presentation of arguments is just as important as the content in round. I know many LD debaters who are complimented on their ability to be articulate when explaining themselves both in round and in class.

Thus marks the end of this post. If you have any further questions, please feel free to email us via our email: resources.debate@gmail.com. Please spread the word to other debaters who you think may find this website useful! Make sure to check out our other posts, as they're guaranteed to help.