Tom
Peters
Pete Kruppenbacher
Greg Varley
Director of Debate
Assistant Coach
Coach Emeritus
Registration Form for the Westchester Classic is on the web. Click here to get it.
Welcome to the webpage for the Lakeland District Debate Program. This webpage is intended to serve as a means of communication between debaters, parents and coaches. We also hope to use this as a means of bragging about the program.
This is a great tradition associated with Lakeland District Debate. Formed in 1964 by William Vogel, Lakeland High School quickly moved into the upper echelon of the activity. In the early 1970's, Walter Panas High School entered competition, and under the direction of Ted Belch, quickly became one of the nation's premier programs. Greg Varley became the Director of Debate at Lakeland High School in 1982, and became coach of the unified Lakeland District Debate Program in 1986. Peter Kruppenbacher became director of the program in 1998 and Tom Peters has been the Director of Debate since 2001.
The litany of success speaks volumes about the program's competitive traditions. In 36 years of debate there have been 11 state varsity championships, 3 Top Ten finishes at the NFL National Championships, a championship at the University of Kentucky Tournament of Champions, and two NCFL National titles.
Moreover. Lakeland district teams have an unparalleled level of success at invitational tournaments. There have been championships at The University of Pittsburgh, Emory University in Atlanta, The University of Massachusetts, Lexington High School in Massachusetts, The Bronx High School of Science, Hendrick Hudson High School, Rutgers University and many others.
Lakeland debaters have won the NFL District Tournament 13 times in the past 18 years, had teams in the final round of every division of the state tournament and have won the varsity division in 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1995, and 1998. District teams also placed a strong second in 1989, 1992 and 1993. Basically, in those three years, district teams have closed out the final round.
The success of this program has been premised in the belief that debaters compete both to learn and to be challenged. Students are moved into more demanding tournaments and are given more responsibility as their skills improve. However, regardless of the rate at which improvement occurs, there is still a schedule of tournaments to accommodate everyone.
Further, success in Lakeland District Debate is manifest beyond wins, trophies and championships. Success is primarily in the doing of debate. Success can also be found in the learning, travel, friends and healthy competition.
Debate is not only for those interested in law. Team rosters shows that previous participants have worked in the White House, made major advances in medicine and some are even teachers and businessmen.
The
First Year of Debate Tournament
Schedule & Results Debate
Links
Page Last Updated: 18 December 2001