On Dec. 9 and 10, four members of the De Soto High School debate team will be headed to Lansing High School for a regional tournament against 13 other teams. These students are seniors Philip Kaul and Parker Riley as well as sophomores Kassidy Forshey and Mackenzie Williams.

“This group of kids are experienced and competitive. But I ultimately just want them to have fun, work hard and enjoy the process. If they qualify for nationals that’s a really great and rare thing. But I really just want them to do well,” debate teacher Erin Purifoy said.

The two couples will be arguing completely different topics for this tournament. But, they all are focused upon space and space exploration.

“Preparing for this tournament took lots of research. It’s important for us to keep up with recent developments in space in order to stay competitive,” Riley said.

Kaul and Riley will be arguing two cases which include getting more women in space and cleaning space debris, while Forshey and Williams will be dealing with solar satellites that can locate solar flares.

“We picked these topics strategically so that if we encounter teams that we have met before we are not arguing the same case,” Purifoy said.

There are only four spots available to go on to nationals and the DHS debate students hope to capture one of them. This has never been done in DHS history but these students are hoping to change this.

“This is definitely going to be a tough competition, but I definitely think that we have a chance of going on to Nationals,” Riley said.