Talk isn’t always cheap, so several students are using their verbal skills in a fund-raiser to help pay for trips to debate competitions.

The eight-member Oak Harbor High School debate team is holding a talk-a-thon starting Friday, Feb. 16, and continuing through Saturday, Feb. 17.

“It’s pretty intense — 25 hours of being awake,” said sophomore Dakota Camacho.

The gabfest at the high school will also give the debaters a chance to hone their skills in preparation for the district and state tournaments that take place in February and March. If they perform well enough, they could qualify for the national tournament in Wichita, Kan.

Meanwhile, the debaters have fanned out into the community to collect pledges and donations. Last year, the team raised approximately $350. Their goal this year is at least $800.

The students spend a considerable amount of time and effort preparing for the debates and don’t want to see their season end for lack of funds.

Camacho and his partner, Erica Johnson, started last summer collecting research needed to prepare for debate competitions. They scour the Internet to find the articles they need to argue either side of a topic. They have collected enough information this year to fill four plastic bins with papers.

The pair has spent the past several competitions debating a public policy question on national service, focusing on whether a peacekeeping brigade is needed to quell genocide in Sudan.

The duo recently competed at a debate tournament at Kamiak High School in Mukilteo where they earned fourth place in the varsity cross-examination category.

The Oak Harbor team also earned awards at competitions at Gonzaga University, Auburn High School, and Whitman College.

In addition to Johnson and Camacho, Brian Culbertson, Keith Worley, Cameron Spence, Becky Freeman and Jessy Rodriguez compete. A new team member, Michael Finch, will participate in upcoming competitions.

Besides the research-heavy cross examination debates, students compete in “Lincoln-Douglas” style debates which tend to be more philosophical, said Kim Mikos, assistant debate coach. They address such subjects as whether corporations should be held to the same moral standards as the individual, and if human rights are as important as state sovereignty.

A former high school debater herself, Mikos said debate helped prepare her for the rigors of college. In fact, “debate was more challenging than anything I encountered in college,” she said.

Several of the students are already thinking about college. For example Spence, a senior, is applying at Yale, Amherst, MIT and Whitman.

The talk-a-thon takes place in room 6A at Oak Harbor High School. For more information or to make a pledge or donation, contact coach Kevin Kindelberger at 679-5400.