Menu
Two Fort Scott youths place third in debate competition
Two local teens recently took a stance on whether or not the U.S. policies established after 9/11 substantially reduced the risk of a terrorist attack.
Baker Weilert and Reed Ramsey, both of whom will be ninth graders this fall, attended the Western Kentucky University National Junior High Debate and Forensics Tournament from June 30 through July 1. Although the two youths had never competed in a debate and forensics tournament before, they walked away with third place in the nation in Public Forum Debate and advanced to the semi-finals in Duo Acting. In addition, Weilert and Ramsey secured the second place spot in debate sweepstakes as a squad and fourth in the country in overall sweeps. The local youth were the only representatives from the state of Kansas at the tournament, according to Weilert's mother Stacia.
The tournament, Weilert and Ramsey said, was not a planned event. It was not something that they had been preparing for during the past several months -- as most debaters no doubt had been doing. A fact that makes the boys' success all the more remarkable, Stacia said. Two weeks before the tournament, Weilert's father Brian, who coaches debate and forensics at Fort Scott High School and Ramsey's brother Josh Ramsey, who is currently attending college at the Western Kentucky University, asked the two teens if they were interested in competing in the national debate and forensics tournament. With only two weeks before the national competition, the two boys decided to take the challenge and began a debate and forensics boot camp in order to prepare for the competition, Brian said.
"The two of them went to debate and forensics boot camp," Brian said. "They put in an unbelievable amount of time to prepare. Even on the nine-hour car ride to Kentucky, they worked six of them. Josh Ramsey was a huge help with all of his college experience he brought to the table. It was an incredible weekend."
According to Weilert and Ramsey, the boot camp that they endured was conducted at Weilert's house with Brian and Josh coaching the two debaters. The teens said after spending about a week making basic preparations, the next week was spent cramming for about four hours each night in order to be ready for the competition.
In a written statement, Stacia and Brian outlined the duo's debating experience at the tournament.
"In Public Forum Debate, Baker and Reed ended the first day with a perfect 3-0 record," the statement said. "Day two brought the final two prelim rounds where they finished 1-1 for an overall 4-1 record. This record was good enough to advance to the quarter-finals that evening, where they faced a team from Capital Debate, a debate and forensics magnet middle school in Maryland. The end of the round was a clear 3-0 decision for Fort Scott, launching them into the semifinals on Sunday. In the semis (semi-finals), the run came to an end as they fell to the eventual champions from Houston, Texas. The team that finished second, Baker and Reed had beaten on day one of the competition."
In the forensics part of the competition, Weilert and Ramsey performed a duo acting selection written by Brian entitled "Jack in the Box." Even though the piece, which was about a young man with cerebral palsy, who has a heartfelt conversation with his freed inner-self, was extremely challenging; the two performed the skit well enough to advance them to the semi-finals.
When asked what they attributed their success to, the two debaters said the had been advised by Brian and Josh to walk into every round as if they owned the place.
"We did it," Weilert and Ramsey said, "and it really helped. The other debaters had no idea it was our first tournament."
Both teenagers have plans to join the debate and forensics team at the high school during the up-coming school year.