Our Speech and Debate team entered a tournament a few weeks ago and came out with a team of two advancing to State; Nick Indero and Connor Ferguson. The team went through many rounds of crossfire and bantering, but in the end they persevered. 

“Nick and Connor entered as a policy debate,” Secretary of Debate Gillian Flores said. “It’s two vs. two and it’s super complex evidence based. The debate focuses on government change and the topic changes every year.”

For the team as a whole, making nationals was a concept that is still unbelievable to them.

“When we heard that they made State, we were so proud of them,” Team member Kyndalyn Corell said. “We all knew just how hard (they worked) and the dedication they put into their debate.”

Making State is no easy feat. A lot of time, effort, and dedication goes into play in preparation for a tournament.

“We can write down our blocking and think of ways it can be fixed or made better,” Corell said. “I will say that over the entire season there’s a lot of time and effort put into it, probably several hours within one week. Typically the week of the tournament most would double the time spent going over their pieces.”

Although the team achieved this honor the work does not stop there for them. The team was engaged in yet another competition last Friday, January 31st.

“These kids are hard working and they are so dedicated to this team,” Sponsor Eric Bean said. “For them the work is never over, there is always another speech or topic to be mastered or debated.” 

Even though not every team or person that enters the tournament wins or advances, as long as one team/ person continues till the end, then the whole team is right there alongside them.

“Policy debate is an incredibly long and complex debate, so for Connor and Nick to be going to State for that is amazing,” Flores said. “We’re all so happy for them, all of their hard work had definitely paid off.” 

The Debate team practices together during their classroom time as part of their preparation process for tournaments. They give one another pointers and advice on how to improve their arguments.

“For Debate we have cases that we write and learn and often debate topics,” Flores said. “We practice performing in front of each other so that we can give each other critiques to help one another grow.”