Debate team captains Max and Jake Freeman qualified to represent Oak Park in the California State Championship for High School Speech and Debate at Arcadia High School Sunday, April 30.

The sophomore twins formed the debate club last school year, and began competing in December 2015. The team has won several competitions over the past two years. The brothers cited their previous experience as members of a private debate team as a reason for their success.

“Jake and I were both competitive debaters in California — nationally ranked in middle school,” Max Freeman said.

According to Max Freeman, public speaking first piqued their interest when they were watching a political debate.

“Both Jake and I saw a political debate one time, and we thought [it] was really cool. We found out [that there are] competitive forms of [debate], and we started going to a private teacher and a club team,” Max Freeman said.

The brothers said they had wished to participate in speech and debate in high school, but with no option available at Oak Park, began their own.

“A lot of schools have teams, so we [wanted] to start one. Not just for our benefit, but for every kid that ever wants to do it, because not every kid can go to a private [organization],” Jake Freeman said.

Members of the debate club don’t currently earn school credits for participation, but the brothers hope it may eventually gain class status.

“Ideally, one day, perhaps [the club] could [become a class]. But right now our focus is more just getting kids to stay in the club,” Max Freeman said. “AcaDeca and Mock Trial — they’re classes, but our focus is not on having a class and just having a lot of practices.”

Last year, the team had no formal instructor, but this year Audrey Israel, Max and Jake Freeman’s mother, serves as a volunteer coach and mentor.

“Her job is to book the tournaments, book the buses, the hotel rooms, more organization,” Jake Freeman said. “As me and Max have been doing [debate], she’s grown up with watching and learning with me and Max.”

The club has a novice team of freshmen, and an advanced “varsity” team of more experienced students. At the team’s first competition in December 2015, the team comprised only freshmen. 

“At first I was kind of hesitant [for that initial competition] because I was so used to just debating with my friends,” sophomore Sriram Potluri said. “But these freshmen were really nice and fun to talk to.”

According to Max Freeman, the team did very well in this competition — despite being vastly composed of beginners.

“We went to a local speech tournament, where we did improv speaking, where you’re given a topic and you just speak on it for four to five minutes,” Max Freeman said.

After the first tournament, Jake and Max Freeman began teaching a competitive Lincoln-Douglas style, in which contestants debate on both sides of a topic. The team has since competed in various competitions, winning several titles.

The National Speech and Debate Association presented the team an award and plaque that two schools in the state receive per year Feb. 2.

“I honestly don’t think [qualifying for state] is our biggest accomplishment. I think our biggest accomplishment is that the team has grown so much and that so many kids are actually competing and just sort of learning,” Max Freeman said. 

Max and Jake Freeman both said they were proud of the underclassmen that stepped out of their comfort zones to participate in the club.

“I’ve watched freshmen coming in who are not super social or not super good at [speaking] and I’ve watched them become better students, better debaters, better people as a whole,” Max Freeman said.

Jake Freeman said that assertiveness is often the key to success when competing, and that debate can increase a student’s confidence.

“A big portion of debate is just sounding confident, because you’re going to get a lot of judges that just stand there and don’t know anything you’re saying but they’re like ‘That kid looks smart,’” Jake Freeman said. “You have to have good arguments, good critical thinking, good research, but a lot of it is just acting confident.”

Ultimately, Max Freeman said, it’s the team members and their motivation that make the team successful.

“They want to learn, and that’s the biggest thing,” Max Freeman said.  “Because you can’t make someone want to do debate. [You] have to want to win, and you can channel that wanting to win into some kind of actual action.”