Day One Concludes

Greetings from the Wolfish-Timmons-Foell Lab! Today we had the first official meeting of lab groups. After brief reintroductions of staff, students introduced themselves (Tony "Sparxxx" Godfrey was very vocal about how there is three "x's" in his chosen nickname) and then we made a brief trip to get UNT ID cards. When we returned to lab, David Wolfish began by introducing an interesting flowing drill that the students found educational as well as entertaining. After the flowing drill Nathan Foell facilitated a discussion about the workshop topic, Resolved: A just government ought to provide health care for its citizens. Students had many different interpretations and thoughts about the resolution, which provided (pun not intended) for a good discussion. After lunch, students attended a lecture on proper research methods and techniques given by Dr. Robinson, Sam Duby, and Laura De La Cruz, followed by the first meeting of article groups. Afterward, the lab met briefly where Nathan introduced the philosophical focus of the lab: positive and negative rights. Before dinner, Asher Haig from the policy division of the workshop gave a lecture introducing the concept of a "kritik." After dinner, the students observed a demonstration debate between Matt Levinson and Liz Mullins on the NFL National Tournament (where Ms. Mullins placed 2nd) topic: Resolved: In matters of collecting military intelligence, the ends justify the means. Beena Koshy moderated the debate and students gave their comments at the end. After the debate, students met in labs. David was anxious to reveal his list of student nicknames, but the only reaction he received was the sound of crickets. As the first day came to a close, students had the opportunity to casually discuss various debate related issues with a variety of staff members. Between lectures, labs, and research, the students have a very busy week ahead of them!