“20 hours in the middle of America”. This was to be the furthest west our Mid-West section of the trip would take us the local Steak House described Salina as a bull’s-eye at the heart of the country. Having arrived Monday night the next morning we were taken by the very hospitable Gary Harman to lunch to met the debate team. KWU do parliamentary debate in the NPDA format as well as some Lincoln Douglas and Individual Events (IEs). For a small liberal arts college of around 800 people, KWU has an incredibly well resourced debate team as well as excellent all round facilities. Gary has been coaching high school and college debate for over 30 years and was a font of debate related knowledge and anecdotes. He was also a rodeo rider in his youth and we were kept entertained with his stories.
After lunch we engaged the debate team and some of their friends in some Five-a-Side football (soccer to those of a certain disposition). Playing Brits and Girls vs. The Rest the Brits came out on top in a 4-1 rout. Having successfully showed off our sporting prowess, we returned to the hotel to change for the evening’s debate. We debated the topic ‘This House Believes that celebrities deserve a private life’. We flipped a coin for sides about 20 minutes before the debate started and found ourselves on in Opposition. The debate turned out to be very good-natured and very funny as both teams had parliamentary experience. We were rewarded for our jokes with KWU debate polo shirts and baseball caps as well as pins, which the University President pined, onto our lapels.
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