Gloucester Alumni

By Julio Chuy
Staff writer

The recently formed high school Political Science Club kicked off its first event yesterday afternoon at the school auditorium and, by the time it ended, it received a lot of praise from faculty, community members and fellow students.

"I learned something new today," said City Councilor Gus Foote, who was among one of the community members who attended. "Here are some of our future city councilors and leaders."

The event revolved around a debate between two teams of club members on "How Practical is the Bill of Rights in a post-Sept. 11 World?"

The debate was moderated by former Gloucester District Court Judge David Harrison.

On one side, club members Fitz Lufkin, Erik Wilhelm, Samantha Alves and Ryan Woundy argued that The Patriot Act, which President George Bush signed into law Oct. 26, 2001, has gone too far in taking citizens' rights away. While other members, Kyle Lafata, Ross Clayton, Daniel Martin and Jessica Parisi, argued that the Patriot Act is needed to ensure that the country is protected in a much different world than when the Bill of Rights was signed.

There was no declared winner or loser at the end of the debate but many of the 100 students who sat through the 90-minute debate seemed to side with the first group by clapping and cheering after almost every point made that the Patriot Act indeed has changed the lives of Americans.

"We knew we were going to have a tough crowd," said Lafata, who argued in favor of the Patriot Act.

Lufkin said he hopes the debate event will spark the interest of other students not only to join the group, which has about 10 members, but to make them more aware of issues around the country and the world.

Harrison said he was impressed by how well prepared club members were for the debate and how many students turned out to watch.

The Political Science Club was formed a year ago, but it wasn't until this year that the group, led by social studies teacher Rich Francis began consistently meeting every couple of weeks to talk about local, national and international issues.