Kennedy debate team’s first competition for the 2017-2018 school year will be at Valley High School in Des Moines, Iowa on Friday, Sept. 22 and Saturday, Sept. 23.

“The team and I have been preparing for this competition for a couple of weeks now,” Andrew Shea, so., said.

The debate team students research their topics and try to find as much information as possible.

“We are doing really good because we keep pushing ourselves to do better,” Shea said.

The team keeps practicing for the competition and helping each other when needed.

“I’ve gone to so many tournaments over the years, so I am not super nervous about the upcoming competitions anymore,” Elise Williams, sr., said. “I’m really looking forward to the excitement of competing again.”

Even though the students described the competitions as “stressful,” the team still finds positive ways to enjoy competing.

“I’m feeling excited about the competition because I get to witness the first tournament for many of our novices,” Shelby Tigges, jr., said.

The Kennedy debate team has been preparing to make sure that they are ready for the competition.

“Everyone can relate to each other and talk about things without being judged and that’s what I like about debate competitions,” Tigges said.