Wortham High Grad Takes Third in State Competition

Wortham High School senior, Ben Havens, placed third in Class 2A at the UIL State Lincoln-Douglas Debate contest last week.  Havens qualified for the competition in April during the UIL Regional Contest.  The 2A Region 3 contest was held in Carthage, TX at Panola College on April 16.  Havens placed first in LD Debate at the Regional contest.  This is Havens’ third State Bronze Medal that he has earned as a Wortham Bulldog.  He also placed third twice in State Congress Debate in 2020 and in 2021 earlier this year.

With COVID, the contest was quite different this year.  For this year’s State tournament, all of the competitions were virtual.  The State competition was held over ZOOM calls with students all across the state of Texas.  The preliminary round for the State contest was held on May 25 with the finals being held the next day, May 26.  Even competing virtually, which Havens said is much more challenging than in person, he was still able to finish third!

Lincoln–Douglas debate is a type of one-on-one competitive debate practiced mainly in the United States at the high school level. It is sometimes also called values debate because the format traditionally places a heavy emphasis on logic, ethical values, and philosophy.  The topic of this semester’s debate was:  “Resolved: When in conflict, digital privacy out to be valued above public security.”  During various rounds of LD debate, opponents are required to argue both sides of the resolution.

After two days of debate, Havens was awarded the third-place bronze medal for Class 2A.  The State competition consisted of 12 students from across the state of Texas in the preliminary rounds and then was narrowed down to 4 students for the final round.  During the final round, the debaters were judged by three judges during their competition.  During a “normal” year, this contest would be held in Austin at the University of Texas, but with COVID, the State contest had to be virtual.  This made the contest even harder in Havens’ opinion.

According to Havens, he is a better speaker since participating in UIL.  “I think it’s really influenced how I’m going to personally pursue my future,” Ben said.  “I never really saw law as an option, but going through the whole debate process, and working my wary all the way up (three times!) has really had an impact on my future.”