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On Aug. 18, local leaders in the fields of education and athletics will meet to debate if the present-day emphasis on athletics is detrimental to education. But there’s a surprising twist: they will be
reading debate speeches written by students at Mount Pleasant Collegiate Institute in 1926.
From 1903 to 1933, Mount Pleasant Collegiate Institute educated young men preparing for college and careers with standard high school courses and two years of advanced work. According to the Institute catalogue, it “offers what young men need – thorough, conscientious instruction and careful oversight” as well as “what young men want – training for efficiency under cheerful and wholesome conditions; work, and some play and innocent amusement with it.”

The institute’s annual commencement activities included a debate by members of the junior class. In 1926, students Jesse Finna, S.A. Grovenstein, L. Baxter Hahn, Fred Moser, and J.H. Taylor took up the
topic of the detrimental effects on education of athletics for the annual debate.
Located on the campus of the former collegiate institute, the Eastern Cabarrus Historical Society is the repository for many documents and records from the school, including texts of many debates. The speeches written by those students almost 100 years ago will be read by Gary Calamari, Phil Furr, Michael Johns, Richard Miller, and Jason Sarvis, all of whom have deep connections to both education and athletics in Cabarrus County.
At the conclusion of the debate audience members will be invited to vote for the winning side.
The program, which begins at 2:30 p.m., will be held in Society Hall, 1145 N. College St., Mt. Pleasant. It is open to the public and there is no charge for admission, though donations are greatly appreciated.