BY K. MCSTAY

HERALD DEMOCRAT

"This is a heads up on life," said Aleksey Zebrouski. He stood in the hallway of Austin College in a suit and tie, name tag hanging from his neck. He, along his many companions, are members of the National Hispanic Institute, and were here for the Great Debate.

The National Hispanic Institute returns to Texoma once a year to help grow leaders, Program Director Chris Nieto said. "It's a transformative experience," he said. "It's a testing ground. We all know they have the talents in side of them, and once they discover this, they have the world at their feet.

This year, instead of putting out a theme for the program in advance and allowing the students to prepare locally, the National Hispanic Institute put out several possible topics, which forced the participants to research several different subjects. "We wanted them to be very well versed in a variety of ways," he said. When the students arrived Thursday, Nieto disseminated information about the actual topic to the team leaders, all previous participants in the program, and the kids prepared. "They were up 'til two or three in the morning," he said. "They wanted to be prepared."

By Saturday evening, the official arguments were done, and the students and some local parents waited for the results and the awards ceremony. But among the students, the debates raged on. "The topic was the secularization in the Latino community," said Christina Teach, a 15 -year-old from San Antonio.

"It's the abandonment of traditions," Zebrouski said. He argued in the debates that secularizing the community would erase community identity, and ways to define self and others. "It has a negative connotation," he said. "It would tear away at our identity, and we would lose who we are."

"As long as you can back it up, National Hispanic Institute lets you define secularization in many ways," said Briana Monsalve, 15, from Dallas. Monsalve discussed how secularizing would affect the leadership of the community.

Chazz Garcia, 15, and Teach took different positions on the topic. "It doesn't necessarily mean abandoning tradition," Teach said. "It encourages globalization," she said. "We can explore different cultures," Garcia said.

All agreed that the National Hispanic Institute event impacted their lives in significant ways. The debaters all engaged in four categories: Extemporaneous speaking, Mock Trial, Oratory, Adjudication and Cross Examination. "It forced me to think outside the box," Teach said. "Before, I just thought of what was going on in my own life. Now I think about what goes on in the whole community."

Garcia said that the process has made him more ambitious. "It make you believe you can make a difference," he said. "It gives you a voice, and Latinos a voice."