All students who consider joining policy debate are faced with the same question: “Why should I join?” Although at the surface level, the idea of policy debate seems simplistic and is seen as just another form of debate, the event is an invaluable experience for all participants.

Students who participate in policy debate leave the event with lifelong skills. At its core, policy debate is an extremely research intensive and rigorous event that challenges all participants. With the way that it’s formatted, with teams only debating about one topic per year, students are able to explore and learn about arguments at an extreme depth, especially compared to other forms of debate. Through the process of researching and debating through various arguments, students learn how to create strategies, develop and train their ability to research, and think critically through various situations. However, the benefits of policy debate aren’t just limited to these skills. The process of giving speeches not only allows debaters to learn how to articulate arguments effectively, but also teaches them how to present the arguments in a convincing manner and build up both their ethos and confidence while speaking publicly.

These skills are extremely useful and have significant, real life applications outside of debate. Not only do they help students excel in school, whether that be for a presentation or writing research papers, but they’re also critical abilities that are helpful for whatever career path they decide to go down.

Aside from the skills that many students gain from their participation in the activity, others find themselves joining policy debate for opportunities related to college. Debating provides an opportunity for students to receive scholarships and admittance to colleges or universities through recruitment and recognition of their debating ability. Policy debate is a widely recognized form of debate and is a competitive event at the collegiate level. Many prestigious colleges that have policy debate teams, such as Emory, Dartmouth, or the University of Michigan, will recruit debaters and offer scholarships in order to have them debate for their team. However, even if you’re not planning on participating in college debate, policy debate can still help with admissions to colleges. With it being a challenging and rigorous extracurricular, participating in policy debate can help an applicant’s chance of getting into a college, especially if they’ve seen competitive success.

Besides the skills and the opportunities that it provides, policy debate is worth joining for the community. Due to how time intensive the activity is, many debaters end up forging deep friendships within the community, whether it be with people on their school team or people from other teams and schools. Debate camps, such as the seven week camp at the University of Michigan over the summer allow students to create friendships with people from other states that they would never have met in other circumstances.

Policy debate is an invaluable experience for all students and is something that shouldn’t get passed up. Those who choose to participate in the activity leave with lifelong skills, friendships, and are set up for success wherever they choose to go in the future.