The Teaching and Learning Institute at Selkirk College held its second annual debate on Thursday (Nov. 29) at the Castlegar campus. Tracy Harvey, Selkirk instructor, and Tia Huttemann, L.V. Rogers student, debated Jeff Yasinchuk, L.V. Rogers teacher/librarian, and Jesse Bartsoff, J.L. Crowe student. The topic was Does Social Media Make Us Lonely?
"The female debating team took the affirmative, that social media does make you lonely, while the male team took the other side of the argument," said Harvey. "I'm happy to say that we absolutely conquered that argument."
"It was a sound thrashing," admitted Yasinchuk. "It was a great debate though."
Both did agree that the debate was a lot of fun and entertaining for the close to 100 people watching, including a busload of students from L.V. Rogers.
"Part of it is to foster relations with the high schools," said Harvey. "We do a little bit with the high schools, but more of this could happen. And it was a lot of fun."
"It was great," said Yasinchuk. "I had a prepared speech already but that quickly went out the window. I just felt like I was going to be the bumpkin and do what I had to do. It was really fun. The kids really rose to the occasion. You could see they have the chops for this."