Iowa’s top young argument-makers are in the Des Moines area today for the final rounds of the State Debate Tournament. The event is gathering about 500 students from 36 Iowa high schools. Organizers say the students will be facing off in three different styles of debate.Craig Ihnen is executive director of the Iowa High School Speech Association. In addition to the Policy Division of two-person teams and the one-on-one Lincoln-Douglas debate styles, Ihnen says the third category is called the Student Congress. Students create bills and argue to support them.Ihnen says participation in this sort of an event helps build a solid foundation in Iowa teenagers which they carry into their adult life. He says they learn skills including public speaking, organization and especially how do in-depth research on any topic.He says many students who excel in speech go on to careers in law and medicine. The tournament gets underway at 4 p-m today and runs all day tomorrow at Ankeny Northview Middle School.
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