Debaters in High Places: McGowan Unchallenged as Minnehaha States Attorney

Lake County has one, now Minnehaha County follows suit: the chief prosecutors in both counties are now Madison HS graduates! Aaron McGowan (MHS 1992) went unchallenged in the race for Minnehaha County's states attorney. He joins Lake County's Ken Meyer (MHS 1985) in the ranks of South Dakota's chief prosecutors.

Another thing McGowan and Meyer have in common: as that Sioux Falls paper profiles McGowan, the big extracurricular activity it mentions is not basketball or even Greek fraternity, but McGowan's experience on the USD debate team. McGowan won national debate contests with his partner, Brendan Johnson (yeah, that Brendan Johnson—you want connections? join debate!). McGowan also made a speech or two as a Madison HS debater. Similarly, Meyer was a big Bulldog debater (and his freshman son Azmon hopes to carve a similar swath of debate destruction and extemp excellence).

Principal Sharon Knowlton is right when she writes in the December 2008 MHS Newsletter that all those tournaments our high schoolers attend are worth the occasional classes and home-cooked meals the kids may miss. Every debate tournament, every extemp round our kids compete in puts them another step ahead of the other kids with whom they'll be competing for scholarships and jobs.

Want to be a legal eagle? Join debate!