More Than 130 Michigan High School Debaters to Attend National Debate Topic Regional Workshop in Traverse City
Students can vie for $1,000 college scholarship offered by the Mackinac Center
MIDLAND — More than 130 students and teachers are scheduled to attend an Oct. 8 workshop in Traverse City sponsored by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy on this year’s national high school debate topic, which asks whether the federal government should “substantially increase social services for people living in poverty in the United States.” Students participating in the seminar will hear from leading speakers and have the opportunity to compete in an essay contest for a $1,000 college scholarship.
Attending the Traverse City workshop this year will be debate teams and teachers from Cadillac High School, Traverse City Central High School, Traverse City West High School, Petoskey High School and Inland Lakes High School.
The workshop will be held at the Dennos Museum on the campus of Northwest Michigan College from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8. Three speakers will be featured at the seminar:
Gregory Rehmke, program director at Economic Thinking/E Pluribus Unum Films, a nonprofit organization in Seattle. Rehmke is editor of EconomicThinking.org and FreeSpeaker.org, and he lectures and writes annually on national high school debate topics.
Mike Winther, a frequent lecturer at debate camps. Winther has written articles on many public policy issues and has 30 years of experience in debate coaching and competition.
Michael Miller, director of programs at the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids. He formerly taught and was chair of the philosophy and theology department at Ave Maria College of the Americas in Nicaragua.
“The Mackinac Center is proud to once again host debate workshops — now in their 22nd year — for hundreds of students across Michigan,” said Joseph G. Lehman, president of the Mackinac Center. “This year’s topic is especially timely, given the economic problems we face as a state, nation and world. Free enterprise and charity have lifted more people from poverty than any number of government aid programs.”
The Mackinac Center is hosting additional seminars on this topic in Livonia (Oct. 5), Adrian (Oct. 6) and Grand Rapids (Oct. 7). More than 9,000 students and teachers have participated in the Center’s annual debate workshops since the workshops’ inception in 1988.
