I interviewed Mr. Zaragoza for a quick talk on how this club began. I found Mr. Z to be engaging and modest, but very much praised his students in the club.
A First Year Club
The Debate Club began with the bravery of a student to start a club, by asking Mr. Z to be the advisor. After agreeing to do so, Mr. Z began to see the club grow slowly in its few months.
He shares that this club will help you practice valuable life skills especially for people that enjoy things that have to do with debating and arguing. “The purpose of the club is to learn how to communicate and argument in a proper way," Mr. Z states.
At this time, I asked Monae Rodriguez, a junior at Patriot and the president of Debate Club, why is this club important to her? She answers because she loves arguing so much and wants to be a lawyer and attorney.
The goal of the club, the president said, was just to grow as a group so that more people could enjoy the topics of debate and explore new perspectives. In its first year, it’s important to make sure that the club continues to grow so they can have bigger goals like go outside of the school and debate other groups.
Coincidentally, I showed up on the day when they were “arguing” for positions in the club. They had to debate and argue their way into the position they wanted. President Monae Rodriguez won the debate as students voted once the arguments were finished.
While this is a very new club on campus, it is a valuable opportunity to meet new people and hear new perspectives.
The club meets every other Wednesday at lunch at B213 in Mr. Zaragoza’s room.
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