Debaters must rely on how well their college or university prepared them to understand a wide range of issues. Teams switch sides each round so that half the time they affirm the resolution and half the time they oppose. Government rebuttal- 5 minutes Alberg and Calkins are second year debaters and have won numerous debate and speech awards. Alberg is a senior Interdisciplinary Studies major from Riverside, Washington who hopes to be a missionary. Calkins is sophomore class president and a Religion and Philosophy major from Olympia, Washington.
Calkins plans to attend law school after graduation.
The Portland win qualifies the pair to attend the National Parliamentary Debate championship tournament at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska in March. Six students depart campus at 6 AM Friday, December 3 for Corvallis, Oregon to take on teams from more than 20 schools at Oregon State University. Northwest has won first place and second place at Oregon State for the last two tournaments held on that campus. Friday, four Northwest students will take part in a World Style Debate training seminar to help prepare Americans for the unique kind of debate at the World Championships. On January 2, former US Debate Team member James Stewart and all conference debater Paul Nystrom will travel to Sydney, Australia for the World Universities Debating Championships.