PHILOSOPHY CLUB
HACC Lancaster is a member of Harrisburg Area Community College, a circuit of 5 community colleges spread across central Pennsylvania. We have opportunities to attend debates and events throughout the Fall and Spring semesters, which generally consist of a banquet meal followed by or following the event. In April, we represent HACC at the NE Regional Ethics Bowl, a series of intercollegiate debates featuring some of the finest teams from the area.
The HACC Philosophy Forum doesn’t hold tryouts for new members; anyone is welcome and encouraged to join. You don’t even need to have previous experience with debating; in fact, many of our current members never participated in debate before coming to HACC! Thanks to the generous contributions from the Student Government Association, the team is able to pay for all of the expenses of attending tournaments. Although HACC is smaller than many of the other colleges and universities in the region, we are able to consistently field a large, well-respected, and successful debate team each year. To join the debate team, either come to one of our demo rounds, or simply come to one of our meetings in East 305, which we hold on Wednesday afternoons from 2pm to 3:30pm.
If you have any questions about debate at HACC Lancaster, feel free to email our President or Advisor at hacclancasterphilosophyforum@gmail.com.
Why Should You Debate?
Speaking Skills:
If you don’t have speaking skills, you’ll develop them quickly. If you’ve always been terrified by public speaking, debate is the perfect way to overcome your fear. Your teammates are more than willing to help you improve your speaking style; they too were once novices, and they’ll be able to help you with our novice training program. Once you get the hang of talking about topics you know almost nothing about in front of people you’ve never met before, you’ll find that giving public speeches, even in front of people you know, is easy! Developing your rhetorical skills will help you out in the real world, whether you’re interviewing for a job or inciting a mob to riot.
Reasoning Skills:
Parliamentary debate requires its participants to come up with logical and creative reasons for their assertions on the spur of the moment; debating in parli rounds will teach you how to think on your feet. Additionally, it will also help you learn how to make a clear and concise argument in a given amount of time, which is a useful skill to have whether you’re speaking in a debate round or writing a paper for class. The entire purpose of debate is to convince another person that your proposition is a brilliant idea and should be implemented; debating will help you refine your ability to persuade other people to see your point of view.
Personal Knowledge:
Parliamentary debate topics range from the philosophical to the absurd, and from current events to ancient history. Unlike other forms of debate, Parli exposes you to a wide variety of topics and looks at the most important aspects of each one. If you’re asked to debate a topic about which you know very little, by the end of the round you’ll find that you’ve dramatically expanded your knowledge of it. If you have to take a position which you are personally diametrically opposed to, it will require you to thoughtfully consider the other side of what you once saw as a one-sided issue. These are two of the great things about Parliamentary debate; in both cases, you’re required to analyze something that you wouldn’t have otherwise, thus making you a more knowledgeable and enlightened person.
It’s Fun:
Unlike some other schools, at HACC we’re fairly laid back about debating. Debate not only helps you develop your speaking and reasoning skills, it’s fun too!
The HACC Philosophy Forum doesn’t hold tryouts for new members; anyone is welcome and encouraged to join. You don’t even need to have previous experience with debating; in fact, many of our current members never participated in debate before coming to HACC! Thanks to the generous contributions from the Student Government Association, the team is able to pay for all of the expenses of attending tournaments. Although HACC is smaller than many of the other colleges and universities in the region, we are able to consistently field a large, well-respected, and successful debate team each year. To join the debate team, either come to one of our demo rounds, or simply come to one of our meetings in East 305, which we hold on Wednesday afternoons from 2pm to 3:30pm.
If you have any questions about debate at HACC Lancaster, feel free to email our President or Advisor at hacclancasterphilosophyforum@gmail.com.
Why Should You Debate?
Speaking Skills:
If you don’t have speaking skills, you’ll develop them quickly. If you’ve always been terrified by public speaking, debate is the perfect way to overcome your fear. Your teammates are more than willing to help you improve your speaking style; they too were once novices, and they’ll be able to help you with our novice training program. Once you get the hang of talking about topics you know almost nothing about in front of people you’ve never met before, you’ll find that giving public speeches, even in front of people you know, is easy! Developing your rhetorical skills will help you out in the real world, whether you’re interviewing for a job or inciting a mob to riot.
Reasoning Skills:
Parliamentary debate requires its participants to come up with logical and creative reasons for their assertions on the spur of the moment; debating in parli rounds will teach you how to think on your feet. Additionally, it will also help you learn how to make a clear and concise argument in a given amount of time, which is a useful skill to have whether you’re speaking in a debate round or writing a paper for class. The entire purpose of debate is to convince another person that your proposition is a brilliant idea and should be implemented; debating will help you refine your ability to persuade other people to see your point of view.
Personal Knowledge:
Parliamentary debate topics range from the philosophical to the absurd, and from current events to ancient history. Unlike other forms of debate, Parli exposes you to a wide variety of topics and looks at the most important aspects of each one. If you’re asked to debate a topic about which you know very little, by the end of the round you’ll find that you’ve dramatically expanded your knowledge of it. If you have to take a position which you are personally diametrically opposed to, it will require you to thoughtfully consider the other side of what you once saw as a one-sided issue. These are two of the great things about Parliamentary debate; in both cases, you’re required to analyze something that you wouldn’t have otherwise, thus making you a more knowledgeable and enlightened person.
It’s Fun:
Unlike some other schools, at HACC we’re fairly laid back about debating. Debate not only helps you develop your speaking and reasoning skills, it’s fun too!
Welcome to HACC Lancaster:
Our 2013-2014 Teams Include:
Robert-Michael Connell
Georgia Goshea
Eric Harzer
Heidi Kindon
Michael McManus
Danielle Otthofer
Jared Sullivan
Amanda Sura
James Wachter
Support:
Deb Schmidt
