Fayette County High School’s Debate Team is a member of several speech and debate organizations. Our affiliations enable FCHS students to compete for state and national championships, earn membership in honor societies, and join a community of peers across the country who share a love of forensics.
National Forensic League
The National Forensic League (NFL) is a national honor society committed to promoting interscholastic debate, oratory, public speaking, and interpretation of literature by encouraging a spirit of fellowship and by conferring upon deserving candidates a worthy badge of distinction. Founded in Ripon, Wisconsin in 1925 by Bruno E. Jacob, the NFL hosts a National Speech and Debate Tournament each June that awards over $130,000 in scholarships to winning students.
Fayette County participants who accumulate 25 points in speech or debate competition earn a lifetime membership in the NFL, joining over one million others including President Lyndon Johnson, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Senators Richard Lugar and William Frist, media visionary Ted Turner, Academy Award winners Patricia Neal and Don Ameche, Emmy award winners Kelsey Grammar and Shelly Long, television host Oprah Winfrey, news anchor Jane Pauley, CSPAN founder Brian Lamb, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, University President David Boren, and Federal National Mortgage CEO Franklin Delano Raines.
National Catholic Forensic League
Founded in 1951, the National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) aims to promote curricular and co-curricular speech and debate activities in Catholic, private, and public secondary schools throughout the nation. Through a series of Diocesan Leagues, the NCFL holds local qualifying competitions and an annual Grand National Tournament each Memorial Day weekend. Fayette County High School is a member of the Atlanta Diocese.
Georgia Forensics Coaches Association
Committed to growing research, critical thinking, and speaking skills throughout the state, the Georgia Forensics Coaches Association (GFCA) promotes the interests of interscholastic debate in Georgia by assisting in the regulation and improvement of tournaments and by serving as a forum for the airing of opinions relative to these tournaments. The GFCA, in partnership with the Georgia High School Association, host an annual Varsity Policy State Championship in February. The GFCA also hosts a separate state championships to competitors in JV and Novice Policy, Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum debate, and Individual Events.
National Debate Coaches Association
A mission of the National Debate Coaches Association (NDCA) has been to build a National Championship that conducts a student-friendly event that promotes the values and norms of the high school coaching community. Promoting regional debate is a core mission of the NDCA and we believe it is essential for the continued health of our activity.
National Public Policy Forum
Starting in 2009, the Fayette County debate team will start participating in the National Public Policy Forum National Championships. The National Public Policy Forum (NPPF) is the only international contest that gives high school students the opportunity to participate in written and oral debates on issues of public policy. Founded in 2001 by the Bickel & Brewer law firm, the NPPF is designed to supplement the research and oral advocacy skills developed in policy debate with another – that of written advocacy.