Standing in front of the UIL banner, senior Nathan Li poses for a picture at the state debate competition held on Jan 10-11. Li competed in the Congressional debate event and out of the 18 competitors Li went up against he placed 9th and did not make it to the final round. “In terms of what it offers to everybody, congress is a good lense into how our government works,” Li said. “We use actual congressional procedure and it helps people stay informed because people have to look at a lot of different topics.” Photo courtesy of Josh Marsh, used with permission

Standing amongst the other competitors, senior Nathan Li looks over his notes, waiting for his turn to speak. Hours of preparation and practice have all led to this moment, where he will show what he is capable of. His name is called and it’s time for him to leave it all on the floor.

The state competition for debate was held Jan.10-11 at the University of Texas at Austin and the Capitol building. This is where debaters would find out if they made it to nationals after competing. Out of all of the LISD schools, Li was the only student to place high enough at regionals to compete at state, making him the lone district competitor.

“State is definitely a much higher level of competition than regionals,” Li said. “People were noticeably better, there weren’t any especially weak speakers like there were at region, it was a little intimidating.”

As far as fall events, Li competes in Congressional Debate, also called Congress, which is an event that mocks a legislative assembly. 

“I was really proud of myself because when I was I junior, I competed at regionals for Congress and got 4th place,” Li said. “Which is one place away from qualifying [for state]. I was really mad, so this year I vowed to make it and I did and I’m very proud.”

At regionals, there were around 30 competitors while the state competition consisted of closer to 50 competitors from 20 regions. For this particular event, Li was in a chamber with 17 other competitors giving speeches and debating over bills they had looked over.

“My first speeches were a bit more shaky because I was a bit more nervous,” Li said. “But I’d say the best way to deal with the nerves is to have positive self talk. Anytime you hear anybody who you think is better than you speaking, just remind yourself that what they’re doing is not that far above your level and that you can sound just as good as them.”

For congressional debate, the competitors are given a docket of 20 pieces of legislation that are created by schools and submitted to UIL. After reviewing the bills, UIL then submits the best bills onto the docket and are given to the competitors to review, write speeches on, and prepare arguments for. Everyone in the chamber speaks one at a time and has an allotted three minutes to speak. Once done speaking, people ask them questions to which they have to defend themselves. Some of Li’s fellow debate classmates were alternates, so they were able to watch him compete.

“I felt pretty alone, but my friends were alternates and they were giving me support,” Li said. “They had some feedback for me; after the first speech they told me that I wasn’t being aggressive enough and after the second speech they told me that I needed to look up at the judges more and I took that feedback to heart and it definitely helped me.”

State is two days long, the first day being prelims, which was held in a UT classroom while finals were held in the Capitol building. The competitors debated for eight hours each day and Li placed ninth out of the 18 people in his chamber. Although he did not advance to finals, he attended it the next day to spectate.

“I think something that kept me motivated was the passion that the other debaters put into their speeches,” Li said. “When everyone gets riled up about something, that makes you want to say your peace and that keeps you motivated. I probably want to do congressional debate in college as well but high school congressional debate I will [definitely] miss.”

In addition to congressional debate, Li also competes in a spring event called Lincoln Douglass, otherwise known as LD. Li is captain of this event and teaches the debate novice class how to get good at this event.

“I feel pretty good about spring, LD is my event, it’s the event that I’m captain of. There is a lot of pressure because I made state and I’m captain,” Li said. “I would say [LD] helps people learn how to think on their feet because LD is one-on one and it’s largely you just saying what you think and you don’t get a lot of prep time”

Li has been doing debate for three years and joined the novice class when he was a sophomore. Li did not always have the intention of doing debate in high school, as he was going to be in more STEM-focused classes before he realized they weren’t for him.

“I think debate is fun but also I really like my peers; we’re all super supportive of each other and even though we pursue different events, we still try to understand each other, try to hear each other’s struggles,” Li said. “It’s a good time and they’re pretty cool. Looking through the lens of how it benefits me, congress is more of a speaking event, while LD is more of a logic argumentation event. Both of those [events] will be helpful in the future because I probably want to go into something law-related so these would also just help me day-to-day to speak more coherently.”

According to Li, debate has taught him many lessons and provided him with the opportunity to expand his skills.

“To future debaters, as great as the debate coach is, and as much as you can learn in the classroom, the only way you’re ever gonna get good at debate is actually going to debate competitions and overcoming your fears because that’s where you see some exponential growth: when you’re in the moment,” Li said. “Good luck to whoever is competing in Congress in the future, I know you guys can do great, you just have to prepare and not be afraid.”