thegreat
DEBATER
Kara Borden will use her
intensely honed debate
skills in law school
BY CAREY CONNELL
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
In early September, when most
graduating seniors were relaxing
and gearing up for their last year
at the University, senior Kara Borden
was already burning the midnight oil.
Poring over dense legal documents
didn’t help her earn an "A” in a 400
level class but it did help her win
rounds in debate tournaments.
“Before our first tournament of the
year, we were in the debate office for
10 days straight putting in 12-hour days
of researching,” Borden said. “But that’s
what you do to be prepared. ”
For four years, Borden has earned
close to a 4.0 GPA, triple majoring in
Spanish, political science and history
while traveling 10 weekends during
the school year to debate against
schools such as Harvard, Berkeley and
Dartmouth. She was one of a handful
of students who competed for Ore
gon’s policy debate team this year, an
activity that demanded lightning fast
speech and an at-hand grasp of hun
dreds of pages of information.
A day in the life
While other travelers scan the bag
gage claim trying to pick out their duf
fels from a sea of identical luggage, Bor
den’s green tubs bulge with evidence
files so much they almost exceed the
airline’s suitcase weight regulation.
Upon arriving at their scheduled
tournament, Borden and her partner,
Jeanette Schaller, walk into the room
where their first round is scheduled,
carefully balancing the 50-pound tubs
full of evidence that will be utilized to
counter their opponents’ arguments.
Kate Horton I Photographer
Graduating senior Kara Borden
wiii be a debate coach this fall at
the University of Puget Sound.
The room is relatively quiet as
Borden and Schaller gather their notes
for their opening speeches. While they
prepare, the judge, usually an ex-de
bater, sits calmly and idly doodles on
the score sheet upon which he will de
cide whose argument is superior.
When the judge signals for the round
to begin, Borden, the first speaker of
the round, becomes an aggressive and
confident attacker. At this point the un
trained ear can quickly loose track of
the event.
Debates such as these are fast
paced. Borden, who has been debating
since she was a high school freshman,
admits that learning to speak in debate
style was a skill that required honing.
“I practiced a lot to learn to speak
quickly,” Borden said. “You have to
read the evidence over and over to be
come more familiar with it.”
Her hard work paid off. Borden se
cured many notable finishes for the
small Oregon squad. In the Gonzaga
University Jesuit Debates, Borden and
Schaller won five rounds in a row to
qualify for elimination rounds, and
Borden beat out almost 100 debaters to
win the 15th speaker award.
As a female in a predominantly
male activity, Borden often fights sex
ism from judges and opponents who
do not take her seriously at first be
cause of her gender.
“At the biggest tournaments in the
nation, only about 20 percent of de
baters are women,” Borden said.
“Once our male opponents admitted
they assumed they would have a win
in the bag when they saw they were
debating two women, but we ended
up winning the tournament.”
After graduation, Borden will coach
and give lectures to high school de
baters at the Whitman and Gonzaga de
bate camps, earning $4,000 for five
weeks of coaching. She has also accept
ed an assistant coaching position for die
University of Puget Sound debate team.
Borden plans to keep using her debate
skills such as researching, discussing le
gal topics, and giving oral presentations
when she attends law school.
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