{"id":55697,"date":"2025-11-21T17:57:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T17:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/55697\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T17:57:27","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T17:57:27","slug":"supporting-the-art-of-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/55697\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting the art of debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the Catalyst\u2019s Community Voices platform. We\u2019ve curated community leaders and thinkers from all parts of our great city to speak on issues that affect us all.\u00a0Visit our\u00a0Community Voices page<\/a>\u00a0for more details.<\/p>\n

Americans hear a great deal of talk about crucial policy issues that affect their lives. To expand and enhance that discussion, the Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions (ISPS) proudly hosts a yearly, competitive forum for Florida college students to debate these issues \u2013 the Grand Debate.<\/p>\n

Crafted to prepare today\u2019s students to become tomorrow\u2019s future leaders, this statewide initiative brings together students and faculty from across Florida\u2019s \u201cGreat 28\u201d state colleges to engage in friendly rivalry to debate relevant issues of the day.<\/p>\n

Beyond sharpening public speaking and debate skills, participants gain valuable networking opportunities with college-wide peers, government officials and business leaders from across the state.<\/p>\n

Building on this mission, the Fourth Annual Grand Debate gathered finalists from St. Petersburg College, Daytona State College, Hillsborough College, Eastern Florida State College and Palm Beach State College Nov. 6 to tackle a timely question: Should the government regulate social media content moderation policies?<\/p>\n

\u201cMy key takeaway is knowing that really anybody can achieve something like this and being here,\u201d said Antonio Valley, third-place winner from Daytona State College.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had absolutely no experience before this, so knowing that I was able to get up to speak gives me confidence and pushes me to do better,\u201d Valley said.<\/p>\n

To reach this stage, participating colleges first hold preliminary rounds on campus. From there, finalists dive into research on the predetermined topic approved by ISPS and its college partners.<\/p>\n

Remaining unbiased throughout the process, students are required to research both sides of the argument and receive their stance the morning before the competition. The views expressed in the Grand Debate do not represent those of participants or ISPS.<\/p>\n

\u201cISPS and the Grand Debate have been a tremendous asset to Palm Beach State College, and I believe all the colleges that participate,\u201d said, Dr. Kevin W. Coakley, MA JD, professor of political science at Palm Beach State College.<\/p>\n

\u201cBesides the fact the debate educates students to have a civil debate over political issues and policies, it\u2019s given my students a chance to meet other students who have similar backgrounds and similar interests,\u201d Coakley said.<\/p>\n

ISPS\u2019 Grand Debate serves to foster collaboration and speech skill building for the entirety of the Florida College System.<\/p>\n

To learn more about the Grand Debate and watch our past competitions, visit isps.spcollege.edu\/grand-debate\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Matthew Lee is Marketing & Communications Manager at the Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions at St. Petersburg College.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to the Catalyst\u2019s Community Voices platform. We\u2019ve curated community leaders and thinkers from all parts of our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-55697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}