Speech and Debate

Fairmont participates in Public Forum Debate, LD,  and Impromptu speaking.

Debate - Public Forum is the largest debate format in the country and Fairmont has consistently ranked as a Top 5 program in the country based on the number of bids to the Tournament of Champions and tournament wins in Public Forum Debate. This is a two-on-two style of event. Topics are distributed a month in advance and debaters use that topic exclusively. Partners are not assigned. Partners are up to the student's choice but Mr. Rusk offers a partner matching program where he can help you find a partner. During tournament sign-ups, there will be a feature to request a partner and Mr. Rusk will assist in matching with you said partner.

Speech - Our High School in Anaheim offers Impromptu which is a style of speech that centers on extemporaneous speaking. This is an individual event so there are no partners. This is a 7-minute speech with 2 min of preparation. Topics are chosen at random and can vary from the academic to the comical. Students learn to construct an argument regardless of the topic given.

Last year we had over 90 participants on the team.

Team: We have an open team. There are no tryouts though some tournaments limit tournament entries based on size. Team selection for those limited tournaments is based on merit, work ethic, and seniority. There are two divisions. Junior Varsity and Varsity. 90% of students start in JV regardless of experience to learn the new style, jargon, and speaking structure. Students may elect to join Varsity after 2 tournaments in JV and are required to join Varsity after 5. Please discuss with Mr. Rusk if you have questions about when to change divisions.

Class: Every student on the team must enroll in the Intro To Debate Class or Advanced Argumentation. One of the Advanced Argumentation classes takes place in 8th Period Flex allowing students to work before school. Debate also heavily utilizes the Flex Period for practice debates, meetings, and research. Students may only enroll in the Advanced Debate program with approval from Mr. Rusk. Due to the size of the team students typically only attend 8th period once a week. A weekly schedule and day assignments will be sent out at the beginning of the semester. If your student has two years or more of debate experience some students may be approved for the Advanced class their first year on a case-by-case basis. This is a graded class.  Students must attend one tournament a semester to pass the class. Other grades include topic quizzes, participation, and research assignments.

We attend over 20 tournaments a year with the majority of them taking place on what is called the national circuit. Our minimum tournament season typically follows the UK Season Opener, Jack Howe CSU Long Beach, Yale Invitational, the NYC Invitational, CSU Fullerton, OCSL Novice, Georgetown Fall, Apple Valley MN, Glenbrooks Chicago, La Costa Canyon SD, ASU, Durham Cavalier Invitational, PV Peninsula, Emory Barkley Forum, UNLV Golden Desert, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. This may change season to season but has been fairly stable. For the last 8 years, our students have attended the national Tournament of Champions our pinnacle of the season. Students will be provided a tournament calendar at the beginning of the year with a sign-up sheet, drop dates, and more. Most tournaments are fully open but some are selected by Mr. Rusk which relies on merit, work ethic, and seniority.

At our American High School in California, students have to pay a blanket $ 200-semester fee. This fee goes towards judge and registration costs for the year. This includes a membership in the honor society of the National Speech & Debate Association. Students pay for any travel costs for tournaments more than two hours away from Anaheim though Fairmont offers a nationally unique 10% subsidy on those specific arrangements. All travel payments must be paid 1 day prior to departure of a tournament by check or credit card. Mr. Rusk or the front desk can collect said payments. We cannot take cash.

Mr. Rusk considers tournament travel safety a top priority.  Students must sign behavioral contracts before their first trip and said codes are strictly enforced. Students will have room checks, daily check-in systems, and more precautionary measures taken to ensure they are safe while traveling. This may include asking for students to share their location with him only while on the trip.

Mr. Rusk is the sole chaperone for any group 12 and smaller. Above 12 we request a background checked Fairmont employee to join us. No parent chaperones are permitted except for the annual UC Berkeley tournament where we usually request 1-2 to take the entire team on a charter bus. Parents must be fingerprinted and background-checked to join us as a chaperone. Parents may decide to book travel at the same tournament or hotels throughout the season but may only request students accompany them for a dinner or outing with written permission.

Mr. Rusk books all travel ahead of time including hotels, flights, and rental cars. Mr. Rusk also drives the team vans or rental vans. He is under special insurance with FPA and must submit a driving record every year to maintain said safety status. As of 2024, Mr. Rusk has driven vans to or at over 75 tournaments in rain, snow, and hurricane winds with over 500 hours of drive time and 8,000 miles with not a single issue to date.