The Deering Debate Team is proud to represent Deering High School, one of three public high schools in Portland, Maine. Deering has a long history of Debate, which you can read about on the "Legacy" page (coming soon). For the past few decades, Deering has focused on Lincoln Douglas Debate (see "About Debate") and competes at the Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Novice levels. We are part of the Maine Forensic Association (MFA), a group composed of Maine schools that organizes and sponsors events. From October to January, different schools host tournaments, which culminate in a State Tournament, held for the past two years at the University of Maine. Many schools are also members of the National Forensic League (NFL), which holds regional qualifiers and then the National Tournament in June. The Deering Debate Team has represented Maine for the last seven years at the National Tournament.

Forensics also includes Speech, which has 13 categories at the state level and six at the national level. This year Deering will have a Speech team for the first time in many years!

This year Deering helped Casco Bay High School, the new expeditionary high school in Portland, start a Debate team. We are working very hard to encourage Portland High School to support a Debate team as well. Last year Deering coached and transported two debaters from Portland High School to tournaments with us; there are many students there who would like to have a formal team. In addition to students becoming involved at the high school level, a handful of students from the middle school level have been identified to participate in a middle school program at Lincoln Middle School in Portland. Hopefully we will see these schools develop teams for these students.

The Deering Debate Team has also reached out to schools outside the Portland district in an effort to encourage them to start teams. Some of the largest and most successful schools in southern Maine do not have Debate teams. Last year we contacted Falmouth High School and South Portland High School, and we are thrilled that South Portland High School does have a team this year, although they are still struggling with paying the coach and providing transportation to tournaments. Whether it is in our own district or others, Debate needs continued parental involvement and administrative support. Please refer to the "Benefits" of Debate page to learn more about this superlative extracurricular activity.