THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 21, 1995 TAG: 9505190193
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 09 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
RESOLVED: WHEN IN conflict, the safety of others is of greater value than the right to privacy of those with infectious diseases.
The issue is debatable, or it will become so on June 17 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
About 200 high school debate teams, including several local students, will vie for the national debating championship in a city known more for fun in the sun than stimulating indoor argument.
The intellectual fray will last a week. Each debate will be judged by a three-person panel, and the winner determined by the majority vote.
Cox High's Jennifer Dziura and Gerard Brunick will make the flight to Florida to argue the above resolution in the Lincoln-Douglas debate portion of the competition where students compete one-on-one.
``They are the first two Cox students to go the nationals,'' said Cox debate coach Larry Eakin, who has turned out winning debaters for the past eight years. Eakin was a successful debater himself at Wilson High School in Portsmouth.
He coached at Bayside and Tallwood high schools before taking over the mentor role at Cox this year. Eakin teaches geography and public speaking at the school.
Dziura won the state debating championship in the Lincoln-Douglas portion of the competition. She addressed the topic ``Resolved: Institutional censorship of academic material is harmful to the educational development of students.''
According to the 16-year-old junior, competitors must be prepared to argue pro and con. She takes debate as an independent study course, as well as participating with the team.
Brunick, 17, is a senior and is headed for Virginia Tech to study computer science after his working vacation in Florida.
Eakin called Josh Knutsen, a state champion high school debater who graduated from Bayside in 1991, ``an invaluable assistant. I don't think we could have done so well without Josh. He provided the philosophical underpinnings.''
A senior philosophy major at Old Dominion University, Knutsen points out the philosophers who are relevant to certain issues, as Eakin prepares his students.
``This is the first time a state champion has coached a state champion,'' said Eakin, speaking of the Knutsen-Dziura tandem.
Neil Vachhani of Kempsville High School will also join the national debate in Florida. His specialty is another portion of the tournament - policy. This is a two-on-two presentation, where debaters focus on public issues. For example, one of the policy issues this debate season was on immigration.
``Our team has done well,'' said coach John Cowan, who was a debater at Kempsville during his high school days.
``We participated in 22 tournaments this season in 10 states,'' said Cowan. Steven (Kung) and Neil won the Beach district in policy. They are our A team.''
Like Lincoln-Douglas debaters, policy specialists are called upon to affirm and deny a stated position. For one of their debates about immigration reform, Kung and Vachhani argued for international adoption.
``We gather around 30,000 sheets of evidence each summer for our debates,'' said Cowan.
The debate season lasts through football, basketball and into baseball season, beginning in September and ending locally in March.
Eakin is ready for the finals to begin:
``No one from Virginia has done particularly well in Lincoln-Douglas debates nationally, so far. We hope to change that in Florida.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by Photos by GARY EDWARDS
Cox High's Jennifer Dziura and Gerard Brunick will be among 200 high
school teams competing in the national debate championships in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla., on June 17.
by CNB