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“At this point in the year I’m pretty well prepared, so I spend less time working, unless I’m putting together a new argument,” said Park.
Park has used World History, American Studies, AP Government and English in general as tools to help him expand his knowledge base from which he might form an argument.
The topics for debate tournaments are called resolutions and are chosen every year by the high school national circuit. This year’s is about the United States federal government and whether they should establish a policy substantially increasing the number of persons serving in one or more of the following national service programs: AmeriCorps, Citizen Corps, Senior Corps, Peace Corps, etc.
The idea is that one team, called the affirmative, presents a “plan of action” that falls within the boundaries of the resolution. Last year the general topic was civil liberties and before that it was United Nations peace keeping operations.
“Now the funny part is that if you debate the ‘right’ way, you barely even have to talk about these issues, and there are plenty of teams that argue the same things every year,” said Park.
Debating is done one of two ways. The first style is to talk in very generic voice and use big terms. The other style is to organize critical arguments, like arguments that are based on philosophical issues, which, in debate, is called a critique of statism.
“For many people, debate is just a game, an intellectual sport. And while I acknowledge it as a competitive activity, I also think that it can, in some ways, be a politically liberative one,” said Park.
For Park, participating in debate has exposed him to whole new realm of political and philosophical thoughts. Park never would have touched upon this at such a young age had he not been in debate.
“I see debate as highly beneficial in terms of its educational value, and given this value, I feel there is an obligation for me to engage in politically beneficial, productive, and, at times, radical argument,” said Park.
Outside of school, Park has gone to three summer debate camps, including a three week camp at Stanford University, a three week camp at University of Texas at Austin, and the highly reputable four week Dartmouth Debate Institute.
“Everybody is really encouraging. My family has been very accommodating, even sending me all about the country for debate camps,” said Park.
Although Park has the support from his family and friends, having debate be a big part of his life can be rough.
“It’s tough at times, because debate really is a semi-secret society with its own language and logic, so it can be hard to talk about debate to anyone but debaters without an hour long preliminary explanation that just barely breaks through,” said Park.
But beyond the closed debate doors, Park finds time to do the things he enjoys in life too. In his spare time he values reading, writing, likes movies and is really into music, as he is currently in the middle of putting together a mix CD for math teacher Steve Sears to prove that rap can be good. Park also enjoys hanging out with his friends as much as possible.
“I read a lot, which sometimes crosses over to debate when, say, I’m reading something philosophical or political, but I also read a lot of contemporary fiction,” said Park.
“I’m also a Zen Buddhist, but have been barely practicing lately and feel kind of guilty about it”, said Park.
Recently, Park won an award for third top speaker at the University of Puget Sound where he also made the semi-finals, not to mention semi-finals at the Puyallup debate tournament. He has also won speaking awards every year for his argumentation.
Park, who plans on attending Brown University after spending a year traveling, has been back and forth deciding whether or not he will study debate in college.
“Right now I’m thinking not, because Brown doesn’t have a team that does the type of debate I do [Cross-Examination Debate]. If I really wanted I could try to start one, but I’m not really motivated enough. I love the activity and it has taught me a lot, but I think it’s almost time for me to get off the bandwagon, or at least as much as I can,” said Park.
Park would possibly be interested in being a political activist, but envisions that as a part of him and not necessarily his sole purpose. There is, however, one version of Park in which he could see ending up a teacher, and if that happens, then he believes he would also like to be a debate coach.
“Sure debates happen behind closed doors, but debate is an entire secret society stretching across this nation’s communities, so if I can make some positive change in debate, I hope to have some change on the rest of the world too,” said Park.
Park gives much accreditation to his debate teacher, Mr. Dorsey.
“I really like Dorsey, I think he’s a very smart man. Even now that I’m more experienced, he still provides great advice, and is a great guy to bounce new argument ideas off in order to start fleshing them out. He has so much experience in debate, that he can help debaters perfect not only arguments, but strategy. And he is, and I’m not joking, a Washington debate legend,” said Park.

Now, Pelosi is looking to the harder issues, such as the President’s plan to surge the number of troops in Iraq, and domestic issues like taxes, the environment, and civil rights—issues that have divided liberals and conservatives in recent times.
Government teacher Cindy Powell and math teacher Steve Sears are well known for their friendly political rivalry. Surprisingly, they actually agreed on many of these bills.
On the minimum wage bill, they were both fully in agreement with the raise.
Similarly, and not so surprisingly, as they are both teachers, both supported the reduction in student loan rates.
“Nobody should be making money off students going to college, as far as lending them money for it,” said Powell.
Sears said, “Education’s a valued thing, and an important thing for our country.”
Powell, for personal reasons as well as political reasons, fully supports stem cell research. Sears disagreed with the use of fetuses for stem cell research, but said that he fully supported new technology that could make stem cells out of other parts of the body, not a potential new human.
Powell and Sears do have different political beliefs, but the similarity in their views is a good indicator of why most of these bills passed the House with large bipartisan support.

“I didn’t expect it to happen,” said Treese.
The next day, freshman John Gage attended P.E class. He piled his pants and T-shirt on top of his school things in the boys’ locker room. Nestled in the pocket of his pants lay his iPod. After class, Gage was quick to realize that his recently purchased MP3 player was missing.
“I told my mom,” said Gage. “She wasn’t happy.”
Neither was Treese’s mother Michelle Stearns.
“I’m not so much angry as I am… it’s just really a sad situation,” said Stearns.
Both families immediately reported the thefts to Vice Principal Jim Ohlsen who initiated an investigation. Soon the police became involved. Within a week, the culprit of both crimes was identified as being the same student. “This person has confessed,” said Ohlsen, “and is facing consequences.”
On Sunday, January 21, Officer Patterson of King County Police arrived at the Gage residence with iPod in hand.
“I think it’s a near miracle that John got his iPod back, I didn’t think I’d ever see that iPod again,” said William Gage, father of John.
Treese wasn’t so lucky. Although her purse was found, her iPod’s location remains a mystery.
“Marika hasn’t gotten her’s back, and I don’t think there’s any hope,” said Stearns who is pressing criminal charges. “What I really hope will happen, which I don’t think is very realistic, is the student will reevaluate where their life is going, or not going.”
While Gage and Treese plug themselves in, and tune into the comforting music, they have learned how better to protect their belongings. 
“I could have put it in my locker,” said Gage.
“I guess I could have not left my purse outside the girl’s bathroom,” said Treese.
Ohlsen offered a simple solution, “Don’t bring [iPods] to school.”
Gage’s mother Wendy said, “Classmates can help each other in a number of ways. Remind each other to keep your stuff safe and be willing to report things that seem a little off.”