Support Central Debate!
Central Debate has a long and proud tradition of competing in cross-examination policy debate across Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest, and this year was one of most successful in a while.
However, rising costs, stagnant activities budgets, and a decline in local tournaments have put a difficult cost burden on the existing budget to provide educational opportunities for Central’s debaters. Central is the only traveling debate team in western Wisconsin, so competition now often includes hotel costs, vehicle rentals, or bus trips. In addition, with the School District of La Crosse transitioning away from one-to-one laptops, Central Debate is in a situation where we must buy new devices for competition.
However, rising costs, stagnant activities budgets, and a decline in local tournaments have put a difficult cost burden on the existing budget to provide educational opportunities for Central’s debaters. Central is the only traveling debate team in western Wisconsin, so competition now often includes hotel costs, vehicle rentals, or bus trips. In addition, with the School District of La Crosse transitioning away from one-to-one laptops, Central Debate is in a situation where we must buy new devices for competition.
Can you support us? Click here to contribute through our Kindful portal.
Sponsor Central Debate!
If you have a business or organization that would consider sponsoring Central Debate, please let us know! Your sponsorship could make a significant impact on our team's success. In return for your generous support, we're offering the opportunity to feature your name or logo prominently on our debate team t-shirts, promotional materials, and tournament materials. This exposure not only demonstrates your commitment to education and youth development but also aligns your brand with a cause that values critical thinking, communication skills, and teamwork. Join us in empowering the next generation of leaders and thinkers. For sponsorship inquiries and further details, please reach out to us at [email protected] or through the contact page!
How else can I help?
If you would prefer not to use a credit card, you can support Central Debate any time by sending a check to the Central High School activities office.
Make out checks to: "La Crosse Central HS Debate"
La Crosse Central High School
Debate/Ben Hamburger
1801 Losey Blvd South
La Crosse, WI 54601
You can also reach out to us at [email protected] or the contact page to make arrangements.
If you can't help out financially, here are two other ways you can help!
Make out checks to: "La Crosse Central HS Debate"
La Crosse Central High School
Debate/Ben Hamburger
1801 Losey Blvd South
La Crosse, WI 54601
You can also reach out to us at [email protected] or the contact page to make arrangements.
If you can't help out financially, here are two other ways you can help!
- In addition to monetary contributions, we invite supporters to consider donating your old or gently used laptops to the Central High School debate team. Your pre-loved devices can make a tremendous difference in empowering our students with the tools they need to excel in their academic pursuits. For more information on how to donate laptops, please email [email protected].
- Do you have a connection or positive experiences with a computer shop in or near La Crosse? Central Debate is looking to buy refurbished laptops and establish a relationship for laptop repair. If you have an establishment you can recommend, please reach out to us at [email protected]! Your recommendation could significantly reduce the financial burden on our fundraising efforts while ensuring that our students have access to reliable technology. By partnering with local businesses, we not only strengthen ties within our community but also demonstrate the collective commitment to nurturing educational opportunities for our youth.
Why do we need laptops?
Policy debate requires students to do immense amounts of research on policy and philosophical questions on a year-long topic, synthesize their work with research from across the wider debate community, and then quickly organize that research into extemporaneous speeches several times per tournament. Although for decades debate teams accomplished this by using scissors, tape, and copy machines to fill huge Rubbermaid tubs for transport to each tournament, in the last decade that process has transitioned completely to computers, and today laptops and some specialized free software have redefined the mechanics of preparing and performing debate speeches.
For the last decade, the School District of La Crosse implemented a one-to-one MacBook Air program dramatically increased access for Central students to debate, but the district now plans to transition high school students to iPads in the 2024-25 school year. This presents a real problem for Central’s ability to continue to compete in policy debate. The “industry standard” for research, organization, and speech creation in competitive debate is a free, open-source platform called Verbatim, available at paperlessdebate.com. Verbatim is an add-in for Word that utilizes Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros. Although almost all versions of Word for personal computers (PC or Mac) work well, Verbatim is incompatible with Office for iPad and Office Online, the options available for iPads. Although it is theoretically possible for students to compete without Verbatim, in practice it would be a serious competitive disadvantage that will harm both our success and therefore, likely our retention of debaters. Although some debate programs have required students to provide their own laptops, we refuse to restrict debate team membership to wealthy families who can afford to purchase a laptop to supplement a school-supplied iPad.
To continue to compete, the Central Debate team needs a reasonable number of laptops. The number of laptops available functionally becomes a cap on the roster of debaters who can compete at any given tournament. We had 10 debaters compete at the Wisconsin State Debate Tournament in 2023, and we certainly hope to have an even larger team going forward. I hope that 12 devices is an achievable minimum, though an ideal goal would be nearer 16.
The requirements for laptops for debate use are not particularly high--older or refurbished devices are very acceptable. Most debate work is done within an internet browser and Microsoft Word and Excel, and virtual tournaments require the usage of Zoom or other virtual conferencing apps that require a webcam and microphone. The devices would need to survive travel, as our competitions take place across the state and Midwest.
If you have any questions or ideas about our situation, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected] or the contact page.
For the last decade, the School District of La Crosse implemented a one-to-one MacBook Air program dramatically increased access for Central students to debate, but the district now plans to transition high school students to iPads in the 2024-25 school year. This presents a real problem for Central’s ability to continue to compete in policy debate. The “industry standard” for research, organization, and speech creation in competitive debate is a free, open-source platform called Verbatim, available at paperlessdebate.com. Verbatim is an add-in for Word that utilizes Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros. Although almost all versions of Word for personal computers (PC or Mac) work well, Verbatim is incompatible with Office for iPad and Office Online, the options available for iPads. Although it is theoretically possible for students to compete without Verbatim, in practice it would be a serious competitive disadvantage that will harm both our success and therefore, likely our retention of debaters. Although some debate programs have required students to provide their own laptops, we refuse to restrict debate team membership to wealthy families who can afford to purchase a laptop to supplement a school-supplied iPad.
To continue to compete, the Central Debate team needs a reasonable number of laptops. The number of laptops available functionally becomes a cap on the roster of debaters who can compete at any given tournament. We had 10 debaters compete at the Wisconsin State Debate Tournament in 2023, and we certainly hope to have an even larger team going forward. I hope that 12 devices is an achievable minimum, though an ideal goal would be nearer 16.
The requirements for laptops for debate use are not particularly high--older or refurbished devices are very acceptable. Most debate work is done within an internet browser and Microsoft Word and Excel, and virtual tournaments require the usage of Zoom or other virtual conferencing apps that require a webcam and microphone. The devices would need to survive travel, as our competitions take place across the state and Midwest.
If you have any questions or ideas about our situation, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected] or the contact page.