By Rachel Neglia
For speech and debaters, the next few weeks will prove to be a challenge. The state tournament is approaching quickly in the middle of next month, and an elevated level of stress is already showing itself. The ideas branded into speech and debaters’ thoughts, for at least the next several weeks, are “speech practices!” “debate cases!” and, of course, “coffee!” What seems like a never-ending cycle ends with only one thing: the state tournament. With last year’s graduating class, Tempe Prep lost many valuable team members, and this year, a possible eighth state win is not set in stone. This year’s speech and debaters have taken up the challenge and decided to work harder than ever.
Speech and debate can be demanding at times. The state tournament at the end of the season is usually the capstone of this, especially for newer team members. According to freshman Erin Guiney, “Preparing for Speech and Debate is definitely stressful, especially if you’re picking up a new event for state. You need to find time to meet with coaches, practice consistently, keep pieces separate in your mind, and try to stay caught up with homework, school, and other afterschool activities.”
Many participants meet for hours each week, taking the initiative to compete in more events than they are used to. Senior Jack Gilloon explains that before the state tournament, the speech and debate team has “traditionally relied on a lot of people who join last minute in order to help out. Our varsity members are always working a lot with cutting scripts, writing scripts, and coaching newcomers, to make sure that it isn’t hard for people to join and help out.”
This year is no different, and having newcomers to speech and debate would be vastly helpful for the team, especially because currently it has fewer members than usual. This problem will make it harder to win state, as Tempe Prep now has three major competitors: North Pointe, which has several top-notch contestants; Chandler Prep, which has a good sized team and is always a threat; and River Valley High School, whose team far outnumbers ours. Although this imminent challenge awaits, Tempe Prep’s speech and debate team has shown willingness. Their efforts, if they continue to be enthusiastic, will deliver.
Although this extracurricular may be hectic at times, the benefits of participating in speech and debate far outweigh the small short-term costs. Speech and debate strengthens proper argumentation and speaking skills, increases confidence, provides lasting friendships, and is fun overall. It helps in Tempe Prep’s tough liberal arts curriculum, especially in Humane Letters. Erin Guiney explains that speech and debate “makes Humane Letters a lot easier. You can pick out the speech and debaters pretty easily just by watching the activity in the room.”
Speech and debate will not only help at school, but also in college. In fact, many colleges offer speech and debate scholarships, and it also looks good on an application. It will also help in future careers, and life in general. Junior Lyubov Kapko says that “speech and debate can be challenging and frustrating, but it is also incredibly rewarding. I think we chronically underestimate how important presentation and proper articulation of our thoughts can be in shaping the reactions of others. It’s a shame because the inability to persuasively justify our position often leads to the abandonment of what could have been a great idea. I think that having the confidence in your capability to express yourself is definitely worth the hard work.”
Finally, there are a lot of opportunities to talk to students from other schools during tournaments, and this leads to valuable friendships. But most importantly, speech and debate is fun. Preparation might be stressful, but when a tournament comes around, it ends up being a great time.
Speech and debate may be time consuming, but it’s definitely rewarding. In the last few weeks leading up to the state tournament, the work will increase, but at the end of those weeks, we can anticipate the sweetness of victory. Let’s hope that this hard work will bring the speech and debate team its eighth consecutive state title.