As the school year started back up, so did De Soto High School’s new debate season. Students entered debate coach Inga Kelly’s classroom with cheerful personalities and radiant smiles on their faces.

As their eyes started to wander around the room, they landed on the bold letters written on the white board at the front of the classroom. 

  “Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce direct commercial sales and or foreign military sales of arms from the United States.” 

Each year, policy debaters are given a new resolution. In layman’s terms, a resolution is the topic of the debate season; what the debaters argue about.

  The resolution allows debaters to discuss how the United States sells weapons or interacts with foreign militaries in regards to weapons. 

Some smiles dropped and were instead replaced with looks of dread, while others just grew wider. 

“The students handled it better than I did,” said Kelly, when referring to the students’ response to the resolution. 

Although it is a difficult subject of argument, it does provide students with the opportunity to educate themselves on the topic of gun violence. 

“It’s good to look at a topic like this, especially in today’s world, ” said Ryan Handley, a sophomore at DHS and a second-year debater. 

Despite the controversial resolution, the team is very excited to be kicking off the new season. The first tournament for novice debaters is Sept. 21 at Olathe South High School, while advanced debaters start off at St. James Academy that same weekend. 

“Although this year’s resolution isn’t my favorite, I’m super pumped about helping out novice debaters and going to compete at tournaments,” said Keeley Chambers, a sophomore and a second-year debater.