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辩论
Damien participates in policy 辩论, competing across the state and regularly travels nationally for invitational tournaments. Damien has one of the most successful programs in California for over 60 years. Take a closer look at these pages to learn about the history of Damien 辩论, team tournament  schedule, and this year's national 辩论 topic!
 
THE NATIONAL DEBATE TOPIC
每年, the National Speech and 辩论 Association in conjunction with the National Federation of High Schools issues a nation-wide vote of its membership to choose a specific resolution that our students will 辩论 for a full year.
 
2023-2024 POLICY RESOLUTION
Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase fiscal redistribution in the United States by adopting a federal jobs guarantee, expanding Social Security, and/or providing a basic income.
历史
 
辩论 has existed at Damien since the early 1960's. The program was granted a charter by the National Forensic League in 1964. In 1968, Damien won its first state 辩论 championship. 从那时起, Damien has maintained a level of competitive excellence virtually unmatched in the state of California.
 
Dozens of Damien 辩论rs have gone on to have successful college 辩论 careers: The most successful of these was undoubtedly Mark Fabiani, who won Top Speaker at the 1975 National 辩论 Tournament. 最近, there have been several Damien alums who have been noteworthy names in college 辩论: Paul Derby, 凯文Tessier, 布莱恩Yeazel, Shuman Sohrn, 约翰•米勒, 暗利Ceren, Andres甘农, 大卫·穆尼奥斯, Christian Rodriguez, 基督教Bato, 亚历克斯Velto, 奥马尔·达尔维什, and Stephen 刘易斯 among others.
 
The program was blessed in the early years with talented coaching. The program was begun by Mr. Charles Stamps, who coached the team through the late 60's. The program was successful throughout the 60's and into the 70's, with strong administrative support, and leadership from coaches Robert Schwartzberg ('70-'73), Jim Caforio ('73-'74), Barbara Busse ('74-'79), Paul Hudson ('79-'80), and Bob Mocharnuk ('80-'82). Chuck Ballingall came to Damien in the Fall of 1982. 1998年，. Ballingall became the youngest coach ever inducted into the California High School Speech Association's Hall of Fame. In 2008, he became the 14th Californian to be inducted into the National Forensic League's Hall of Fame. 
 
Chuck unfortunately passed away in 2017 and Assistant Director Donny Peters was promoted to Director. Donny would lead the team through the next five seasons, until stepping away in 2021.
 
Alumni Tim 刘易斯 (Class of 2013) was hired in the Summer of 2021 and has led the team through the present.
ABOUT OUR DIRECTOR OF DEBATE
Tim 刘易斯 (Class of 2013) is the Head Coach and Director of 辩论. Prior to returning to Damien, Tim was the Head Coach and Director of 辩论 at Hebron High School in Carrollton, TX where he was the most holistically successful speech and 辩论 coach in program history. Tim is a scholar-practitioner of cultural studies and critical theory. Tim 辩论d for 达米安高中 in La Verne, CA where he was in no fewer than five TOC bid rounds. In the five years that Tim has coached for Damien, Tim's teams have notably won the University of Washington Championship, 乔治城大学的一天, 哈佛大学西湖, CSU长滩, 基社盟富勒顿, the UC Berkeley Round Robin, 伍德沃德, 洛约拉, 刘易斯 & 克拉克, have participated in elimination rounds of the Tournament of Champions, were finalists of Berkeley, 长滩, and The Meadows tournaments, have been in late elimination rounds of Greenhill, 艾莫利大学, 和格兰布鲁克斯, and have been recognized by the University of Michigan's National Coaches poll as a Top 10 Team in the nation.

Tim has a BA from Occidental College in Critical Theory and Social Justice and an MA from the University of La Verne in Social Justice in Higher Education Administration. Additionally, Tim was the long-term Managing Editor of Critical Theory and Social Justice: Journal of Undergraduate Research, leading it to become the top publication in its field. Tim has written 辩论 blog posts for Exodus File, functioned as the Residence Hall Director for the Northwestern 辩论 Institute and Emporia State University, 他是…的编辑 超现实主义的诗学. Tim's academic work focuses on Georges Bataille, post-colonial intervention, transgressive poetry, and identity-in-resistance. Tim recently had a book of poetry, Suburba(in)e超现实主义, published in August 2021 and a second book Constellations of Bramble Thrashing published in February 2023.