Debate Club part one

As the title explains, I participated in my very first debate tournament of my life. At my previous school, debate was not a priority. I joined it anyways yet we spent our lunches just going through rounds of improvisation. Nothing was exactly legitimate  We are given the resolution weeks beforehand and no one would prepare. It was just another mainstream club that involved nothing but a good label on a resume. Of course, my perspective of the debate club changed after attending the first information meeting at my new school. This information meeting covered everything from tournaments, to admission fees, to the tough application process.

The application process was the challenging part. You would fill in a google document and then submit your available interview times. They would piece together a schedule indicating your debate audition schedule. Within this audition, they may ask you questions regarding why you wanted to join and other cliche questions. The plot-twister, was the audition itself. They gave you a resolution, indicated whether you were proposition or opposition, then gave you 30 seconds to prepare. Afterwards, you were to elaborate on a 2 minute speech.

My audition topic was "THW ban zoos." I said the usual points: animals are trapped, they are exposed to human behavior  and it is bad for future evolution of the species. Frankly, my audition was terrible. I stuttered, I panicked. My face was red. My confidence was questionable. When I was notified that I was accepted into the debate club, I was extremely surprised.

The debate club was considered a prestigious club. It was either Debate or DECA. If you were in both, you were considered to be at the top of the well-rounded students level.

You may be wondering how this story is relevant to school tips. It's very straightforward.

• Never. Look. Back
• Always continue
• Thrive for your best
• and always look forward 

This has been part one out of two of my debate experience.

Commute

Honestly, the worst part of school is not the workload, rather the amount of time used to get there. As the school year goes by, the value of time increases, and thus the value of the time wasted can be a great burden. I spend 40 minutes every day to travel to school and back. It gets exhausting as the amount of workload begins to accumulate. Not only does travel take 40 minutes, but waiting for the public transportation to arrive can also be challenging. Sometimes the bus is 10 minutes early, and sometimes the bus is 10 minutes late. My bus is an uncommonly used route, and it comes every half and hour or so. In the case where I miss the bus, I have to use up another 30 minutes to wait for the next one. I am always pressured to arrive early for the bus. At least ten minutes early or else I have to risk waiting another 30 minutes. I constantly ask myself, is it worth it? Using up 10 minutes everyday so I wouldn't have to waste 30 minutes occasionally?

Commute is always troublesome. The price for the tickets can be very hefty too. Especially for the commute in my area, the prices are phenomenally more expensive than the region we are next to. Listen to me when I say, that if you are ever deciding between which school to go to, always consider commute as a priority. And if the school you do want to go to is far, always consider living in that area. These are big decisions and sacrifices you have to make, but for education, it's all worth it.

I used 50 minutes everyday on commute. There are 200 days in a school year. That totals to an outstanding 10 000 minutes every year on transportation. 10,000 minutes used. 10,000 minutes wasted.

Extra-Curricular Activities

Many people always criticize me for the intense work schedule I have. I have at least one extra curricular activity after school every weekday as well as off-school classes I attend to enrich myself further in learning. I also volunteer from time to time as well as catch up with the latest episodes of my favorite television shows. This semester features most of my open courses, resulting in a more relaxed time table. Consequently, I participate  in more extra curricular activities to use up spare time. At the student activity council fair in the beginning of year, I signed up to be on the mailing list of many clubs and teams that fulfill my interests. This consists of: medicine club, law club, glee club, engineering club, computer club, free the children, science club, astronomy club, DECA, debate club,  math club, chess club, model UN, and so on and so forth. Unfortunately, I do not enough time to participate and commit to these activities. In addition, the clubs I was most intrigued were all clubs that required an application process. Once the rejections from these clubs started to accumulate, a schedule of my extra curricular a began to take shape. It was not long before I started taking part in these extracurricular activities. At first I felt like I did not belong to this open group of people. Hoards of students, both big and small, crowded the tiny classrooms. I felt like I would not o much at these clubs so I decided to leave some and try others.

I highly encourage everyone to take part in as many extracurriculars as you can. It is a great experience and it opens new doors to life changing opportunities. Join councils outside of school too. Make a difference in this world. Ask yourself everyday, what can I do today to make sure I go to sleep in a more improved manner?

Even with extracurriculars, it is still very important to prioritize school work. Make sure you are completing your work and just go from there. I hope all student readers will have a safe, happy and enjoyable school year! :)

Until next time,