Possible answers to Latin America’s population control and rural health care problems may be found at Faner Hall Friday and Saturday as participants in the Midwest Summer Debate Workshop argue these issues.

About 36 college students from across the United States are visiting the SIUC campus as part of a workshop to learn how to debate better.

This summer’s workshop topic is Latin America.

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The workshop participants will argue about ways to improve Latin America’s rural health care, control its population and possibly extend the North American Free Trade Agreement to other countries.

The debate students are here for 10 days and are staying in Kellogg Hall.

Russell Church, director of education programs for the workshop, said participants came from colleges in California, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, West Virginia and Maryland.

Heidi Ziegler, a sophomore in publications management at the University of Wisconsin at Platteville, said this is her first time

at the workshop, but she has been debating since the eighth grade.

It’s been a lot of fun and I’m learning a lot, she said.

Josh Saunders, a sophomore in political science and international

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affairs from Marshall University in West Virginia, said this is his first time at the workshop.

He said he has only a little debating experience from last year.

Saunders and his debate partner,

Liberty Weyandt from Webster University in St. Louis, said they are studying Latin America’s population problem.

We’re working on family planning to decrease population and

increase women’s health, Weyandt said.

In discussing SIUC, the students said they are most impressed with Campus Lake and Morris Library.

The lake is really nice and the library here is awesome, Ziegler said.

Saunders said he really likes the lake but got in trouble for swimming in a restricted area.

We didn’t get caught swimming in it at night, but during the day, they came over in one of their boats and told us to get out, he said.

This is the first time in the debate workshop’s history that it has taken place at SIUC.

Church said coming to SIUC is a great opportunity for the students because of the University’s strong debate division and the resources at Morris Library.

The workshop allows them the opportunity to become more efficient at debating, Church said.

It offers them training opportunity and research opportunity.

Church said there will be six tournaments starting tomorrow at 3 p.m. and ending at about 4:30 p.m. Saturday.