In December of last year, debate coach Lora Burbage and her student Carson Hensarling traveled to California to participate in the Candy Cane Classic Debate Tournament, an annual event. GRIH was proud to sponsor their trip. Below are their thoughts on the experience.

Lora’s Thoughts
By Lora Burbage

When Dick Rowland offered me and one of my students the chance to go to California to participate in a debate tournament, I jumped at the opportunity. As a debate coach of seven years for homeschooled students, I could not pass this up! We left on a redeye flight on Dec. 12th and came back on the 16th. The Winthers, coaches of the well-known Modesto Debate Club, were hosting their annual Candy Cane Classic Debate Tournament. The Modesto Club has a record of consistently winning top positions at our National Tournament. Some homeschooling families drive two hours, one way, just to be a part of this particular club due to the caliber and experience of the coaches. They graciously invited Carson and me to join their class on Friday, Dec. 14th.

What a great time of informal discussion and strategizing on practicing the Lincoln-Douglas style of debate. We were introduced to other perspectives on the topic of isolationism, which is this year’s value for the resolution. The students must affirm a position of more highly valuing isolationism for the affirmative side and frankly, we were having a hard time doing that. Mike Winthers presented some really interesting ideas showing us that as the affirmative speaker, it can be a reasonable stance. He gave us evidence from a historical viewpoint of our involvement in various treaties since the end of W.W.II. We discussed philosophy of war, some of our nation’s foreign policies and the impact of international and customary law on our judicial system. Needless to say, I have a lot to think about over the Christmas break! Besides all the information on the topic of isolationism, I came away from that short meeting with some great ideas to help motivate my students.

On Sat. the 15th, Carson debated six times throughout the day and I helped judge students from other clubs. This experience in itself was very eye-opening since several of these students are some of the top debaters in the nation. Watching these debaters gave me a clear view of how well they could think critically and articulate their ideas. Now I know how high the bar is set and what I need to do to prepare my students for our qualifying tournaments. For Carson, my oldest and most experienced student who wants to go into public policy, this was an excellent experience.

A great big Mahalo Nui Loa to Dick Rowland and the Grassroot Institute for blessing us with this trip!

Lora Burbage is a homeschooling mother of 4 children. She has homeschooled since 1987, and is a board member of Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii, a statewide support organization.

Carson’s Thoughts
By Carson Hensarling

Having been born and raised on the sunny shores of Hawaii, I wasn’t surprised to find that the four days I spent in northern California this past December were the coldest four days of my life. However, the cold, and having to scrape the frost off our windshield, was definitely worth it. On Saturday, December 15th, I debated six rounds in the Candy Cane Classic Debate Tournament. At the end of the day I was both mentally and physically exhausted. I learned and grew more in that one day in comparison to the time spent in our debate club, Kailua Forensics Club, so far. It was a huge blessing to compete at this tournament since it gave me the opportunity to make friends with some of the best homeschooled Lincoln-Douglas debaters in the country. We were able to exchange values, ideas, cases, arguments, and examples. It was interesting to hear different perspectives on isolationism, which is the value for this year’s resolution. The majority of students, teachers, and peers I’ve talked with in Hawaii are against isolationism to a large degree. However, in Modesto, CA, it is completely opposite. The majority believes that as a country we should more highly value isolationism. Their views and ideas helped balance my perspective of the resolution. Many thanks to the Grassroot Institute for giving me this opportunity to compete in CA! I’ve grown as a student as well as a debater.