THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 4, 1995 TAG: 9507040376
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MICHELLE MIZAL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
Two Cox High School students reached the quarter-finals in two categories of the National Forensics League Tournament last month in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Gerard Brunick, 17, became a quarter-finalist for the Lincoln-Douglas Debate, and was the first Virginia student to progress past the first six rounds in that category.
Jennifer Dziura, 16, was a quarter-finalist in Extemporaneous Commentary.
Virginia sent six representatives to the tournament, four of them from Virginia Beach. In addition to Brunick and Dziura, Kempsville High's Steven Kung and Neil Vachhani competed in Policy Debate. Megan Phifer and John Taliaferro of Essex High School in Essex also competed in Policy Debate.
This was the first year that Brunick and Dziura competed in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate, in which philosophical and moral issues are the subject.
The Lincoln-Douglas topic this year was: ``Resolved: When in Conflict, the Safety of Others Is of Greater Value Than the Right of Privacy of Those with Infectious Diseases.''
All Lincoln-Douglas debaters were notified of the theme a month before the competition. Each prepared two viewpoints for the subject - one negative and the other affirmative. Each presented both points of view at the competition.
Brunick, who scored fourth in the state for Lincoln-Douglas, used ``John Locke's Natural Rights Theory'' to defend his affirmative view and the ideas of ``the right to life, liberty and property'' for his negative stand.
Brunick reached the ninth round and received the Jefferson Cup.
Dziura did not reach beyond the sixth round of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate and so entered Extemporaneous Commentary, in which she reached the quarter-finals.
In that category, each student selects three topics at random from subjects spread out on a table.
``You have 20 minutes to prepare. Then you sit behind a desk like a newscaster and make a speech out of your topic,'' Dziura said.
Dziura spoke on recycling, South Korea and the House of Representatives. by CNB