JSA Hosted Corn on the Con, look forward to Madison trip

JSA, Arrowhead’s student run debate club, hosted Corn on the Con, a JSA fall themed convention, on Saturday, October 13th. The convention was open for all students to debate current issues. According to members, the convention was a success.

JSA meets Wednesdays at 6pm at Arrowhead. The meetings are usually held in Social Studies teacher, TimTower’s room at North Campus, but the location may vary based on the number of participants.

In addition to regular meetings, an annual trip to Madison, a larger regional conference, is coming up in early December.

Abby Rick, the debate moderator for JSA, says, “how JSA debates work is there is an opening argument from both the pro side and the con side then the debate is opened up to anyone.”

Charlie Fahey, JSA’s republican chair, says, in regards to Corn on the Con, “The event was very fun. The turn out could have been a little better but it went smoothly.”.

Fahey says, “In the future, we want to reach out to more schools to get some new students in the debates.”

According to Fahey, JSA members want to reach out to Oconomowoc, Kettle Moraine, New Berlin, and other schools in the area.

According to Rick, the topics discussed at Corn on the Con were “environment related.”

Rick says, “Last year, a lot of green party kids felt like the environment wasn’t discussed enough so we decided to host an event where many of the topics were environment related.”

Rick said, “The event started off with a guest speaker  Then there were time blocks where students could go to one of three different debate rooms on different topics.”

In addition to the debate blocks, Rick says, “There were also rooms that we called thought talks where students just talk about a topic in a less formal environment. The focus of those is more about learning rather than debating.”

Coming up in December is the annual Madison trip. Fahey describes the Madison trip as “corn on the con but on a larger scale…There are a hundred different debates and students have a lot of freedom to choose what they participate in.”

Rick says, “The Madison trip is really fun. You get to learn a lot and just go out with your friends.”

To sign up for the Madison trip see AHS social studies teacher and JSA advisors, Tower or Tamara Varsos to get a permission slip.

The cost is $150 per student. The trip is over night on December first and second.

According to Rick they “are expecting upwards of 30, hoping for upwards of 40.”

Rick says “Anyone can get involved in JSA. Just come to the meetings and learn something.”