About Me

 

Hey Everyone,

I’m Kaitlyn Haynal, I’ll be a senior at JMU this fall, and am also on the JMU Policy Debate Team. I joined my high school’s policy debate team in my freshman year, and was hooked. going into my 8th year of involvement in the activity, I have seen both the activity and myself grow. Especially after joining in college, I now know just how much I appreciate everything debate has to offer. I have seen what the activity can be, and am hoping to increase the success of policy debate in Virginia.

This is a page for me to organize my project for my Argumentation and Advocacy class.  I am focusing on ways to increase participation in and support for high school policy debate in Virginia. 
I also want to note that I do not mean for anyone who is involved in the Virginia policy debate community to take offense at any comments or criticism I may make. I do not mean for this project to knock on debate in the area at all- I understand the environment and style of debate differs not only by state but by region and school, and I do not mean to make comparisons between different programs. I know how hard most of the community works to run and host tournaments and am grateful for all the support and commitment that has been made. Attending camp, and now that I debate in college and have judged high schoolers at a national level, I have become aware of just how many different levels of competition exist. This blog is meant to be an exploration of what can be done to ensure that Virginia policy debate becomes all that it can be, and I am simply looking for a way to give back to the community as thanks for all that it has given to me.

Hope you enjoy!

me with a stop sign by the cabin the

debate team stays at during our preseason retreat

Kaitlyn