The Wylie Bulldogs’ debate team recently competed in two TFA (Texas Forensic Association) competitions this past weekend, August 28th, against Plano. Our competitors Brendan Hurt, Addie Fellona, and Anna White worked hard to make Wylie proud. The competition, originally in person, threw the debaters off-guard when there was a last minute change to an online meet. Although they are used to the online meets from the previous year, the students were looking forward to the social environment. Mr. Holland, the debate coach, stated, “Personally, I think my students always perform better when they’re in person than doing virtual.” Even though the competitors were disappointed, they gave their all.

 Our team competed fairly well to start off the season. Brendan Hurt received 4th place in Congress which he describes as, “Acting as a student body government … for the better of the American people.” Brendan worked hard and although he did not get the chance to advance forward, he still did very well against “one of the toughest debate schools.” Addie Fellona and Anna White were partnered for an event known as PF (Public Forum). The pair only lost one out of four in the preliminary rounds progressing them to the quarter-finals. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful and were not able to move forward.  PF they described as, “You and your partner make a case,” then the teams hash it out asking questions and rebutting to keep their cases strong. Anna made the point of saying, “It’s supposed to resemble the presidential debates,” meaning the competition follows a similar format to the debates. Our Wylie debate team has done us proud and worked extremely hard to compete. 

Photo taken from Bulldog Debate’s Instagram.