Rogers will soon “Speak to the Nation”

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Sam Kunz, Staff Writer

Five years ago Kyle Rodgers decided to join the Speech and Debate team for one reason, to meet the attractive ladies.   Little did he know he would end up qualifying for the national debate in Salt Lake City this June. “Regionals was held at Kamiak High School a couple of weeks ago, it was a double elimination system so if you lost two rounds you were knocked out. We didn’t lose a single round and were the last team remaining, so we were qualified for Nationals,” Rodgers said.

All the people from District one, or all the 3A teams in the area were able to compete in regionals. Rogers and his partner Andrew Davis were two of eight people in Washington who are advancing to Nationals. “At Regionals we talked about the military presence in Okinawa, Japan. We aren’t sure what our topics are going to be for nationals, but they usually let us know a month in advance,” Rogers said.

Debate has Rogers traveling and competing in multiple states this spring. “We’re also going to a National competition in California in May, but that one won’t be as competitive as the one in Utah,” Rodgers said.

Rogers loves to debate and feels it strengthens his communication skills, but also spends his time traveling, surfing, and taking photos. With debate he enjoys the competition and being able to research current news, specifically concerning middle eastern conflicts, and environmental issues, such as oil. His most memorable debate was sophomore year when they won a two day competition in Oregon. They debated for 16 hours and didn’t have a lot of confidence in where they placed but ended up doing very well. Rodgers plans to continue competing in debate at Whitworth University or Pepperdine University with a debate scholarship.