*WEB CONTINUATION: This article originally appeared in Volume 105 Issue 2 of our news magazine the Amplifier.
As of winter break, Speech and Debate is now five competitions into the year, traveling as close as Portland and as far as Ashland to compete.
Addi O’Neill, senior, had success at their last competition at Ida B. Wells High School, placing third in the Open After Dinner Speaking category and first in the Open Congressional Debate category. O’Neill has been on the team for three years, starting in her sophomore year and now is a team captain.
“I was really mentally and physically struggling my sophomore year of high school. I was in Mr. Sugar’s US History class, and he stood up in front of class, and he was like, ‘Do you want to join and make a speech and debate team?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, 100% I do, because that’s incredible,’” O’Neill said. “I went to my first tournament and seeing the people debating and having the motivation to speak and to do things was a huge help in my life.”
Kyle Hull, freshman, is new to the team. At the Ida B Wells competition, he placed second in the Novice Congressional Debate category, fourth in the Novice Extemporaneous Speech category, and tied for first in the Novice Public Forum category with his partner.
“[I joined because] I’ve always been interested in politics and current events, which Speech and Debate relates heavily to,” Hull said. “I think just the speaking and debating experience is pretty valuable, and it is very enjoyable.”
Anwesha Chowdhury, junior, is a third-year member of the team, and in her last competition she placed third in the Extemporaneous Speech category and participated in the Open Parliamentary Debate and Open Impromptu Speech categories.
“I really wanted to see if I could improve my speaking skills, and I really wasn’t expecting much just to see myself individually perform. I just fell in love with it after that,” Chowdhury said.
How competitions are evaluated depends on what category you compete in. In individual events, competitors are ranked by the judges individually based on their performance. However, in debate events against one other person, the ranking is evaluated by wins and losses against other teams.
For competitors like Finley Parker, freshman, participating in a competition you’re interested in is important.
“I really chose anything that allowed me to think on my feet,” Parker said. “I don’t really like preparing large speeches. So any real event where you have a limited amount of time, where everybody has the same amount of time, but you have a limited amount of time to think of something, I chose that.”
Each week, Speech and Debate members meet after school to practice and get critiques from their club adviser, Michael Sugar, and their teammates about their events. This far into the year, a sense of community has formed between the members.
“I’ve met some of the most incredible people through doing Speech and Debate,” O’Neill said. “I love seeing new freshmen come in and seeing them find love and power in their own voice and opinions, and also getting to observe the fluidity of thought, like how somebody can have one perspective one second and then change it two minutes later. I think it’s so fascinating.”
Coming off of winter break, the team travels to Lewis and Clark College to participate in their sixth competition of the school year.