Ben Kessler is a junior at Pattonville High School who is a debating pro. He sat down with Tessa Stahlhut for an interview and shared his experiences with debate.
Kessler began debating last year, “or you could say my sophomore year because I’m a junior.”
Tournaments happen for Kessler about once a month.
“My girlfriend likes to say I go too often,” Kessler added.
Debaters on the team have considered the Neosho tournament their favorite.
“It’s just a full two days of debating,” Kessler said. “It doesn’t sound like much fun but it really is.”
When competing at tournaments, there are many forms of ways to debate, such as public forum, Lincoln-Douglas, oratory and policy.
Kessler said, “secretly”, his favorite form of debating was policy. “And you have to put secretly,” he joked.
On thing that Kessler doesn’t like about going away on debate trips for tournaments is being away from his girlfriend.
“Im gonna be corny and say that being away from Taylor is the hardest.”
