In the world of academic extracurriculars for ambitious students, from Model United Nations (MUN), Mock Trial and Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA), one club shines brighter than the rest: speech and debate. High school speech and debate, organized and run by the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA), opens up various opportunities for students to develop academic skills, whether on the speech or debate side of the club.
NSDA, founded in 1925 by Bruno E. Jacob, began as a way to encourage high school students to participate in Speech and Debate tournaments. By 1969, NSDA gained 300,000 members, and by 2000, that number soared to one million. In 2003, Georgia State University held the National Speech and Debate Tournament. With new members, NSDA decided to broaden its horizons. Debate competitions Public Forum and Congressional Debate started accepting international contestants in 2004.
NC’s Warrior Speech and Debate remains moderately sized, but works steadily to gain members. The club meets every Monday from 3:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. in room 606. President Omar Balogun, vice president and social media manager Skye Pierre, speech lead Lidia Sidorova and the debate lead Leila Quaynor run each meeting. As a warm-up, the entire group plays Speak Your Truth — a tradition in speech and debate — to engage students. Typically, at meetings, the club will split and each side will play a game designed to prepare students for tournaments. The debate side will play debate games, such as Tea Cup Debating or Flash Fire Debating, and the speech side will focus on practicing articulation and timing.
While the club meets together, members usually pick speech or debate and choose to compete in various events on either side. Speech events fit into either of two categories: Public Address Events and Interpretation Events. Public Address Events feature a speech written by the student ahead of time or with limited prep time. Depending on the event, the speech either answers a prompt, persuades the audience or educates the listener. While every tournament does not contain every event, tournaments will always include Impromptu. At NC, nearly all speech participants compete in Impromptu as it does not require pre-tournament prep and proves easier for novices. Impromptu speeches include a five minute speaking time, usually with two minutes of preparation after competitors choose a prompt. Judges then grade and rank competitors based on confidence, speech quality and connection to the prompt.
“Speech and debate honed my speaking skills. Impromptu has taught me many life skills, like how to interpret different perspectives. I have won three awards in Impromptu, and it has helped me learn that it is not about winning, but about gaining new experiences,” magnet junior Anyanna Ekpechi said.
Interpretation Events add a theater-like aspect to speeches. All events — Duo Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Dramatic Interpretation or Program Oral Interpretation — require that students select published material and perform it for judges for 10 minutes. Duo Interpretation performances include two students performing together, with comedic and dramatic aspects. Humorous Interpretation focuses on a performance portraying comedic attributes while Dramatic Interpretation centers on powerful storytelling and portraying emotion accurately. Program Oral Interpretation asks students to weave together different forms of literature — prose, poetry and drama, into a cohesive performance focused on a singular theme. Unfortunately every tournament does not include each of these events, however, the ones that do lead to fun performances where non-competing members retain an invite to spectate.
Participants in the debate side conduct research and develop arguments to present at a tournament. At NC, students typically compete in Public Forum Debate and Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Public Forum includes two speakers for each team and a set format with time limits for each round of presentation: crossfire — a direct ask-and-answer round between one member on each team, rebuttal, summary and Final Focus, where one member explains why his or her team wins the debate. Lincoln-Douglas Debate includes one person per team and an affirmative versus negative format. The round includes presentation, cross-examination — the negative side asking questions of the affirmative and vice versa — and rebuttal.
“Being in Speech and Debate really changed my life. I started out as a freshman and it helped me develop better public speaking skills. It also helped me with my writing abilities and articulating myself, which was really helpful for AP Research and AP English Literature and Composition,” Balogun said.
Regardless of a student’s choice to participate in speech or debate, two points prove certain. An event for everyone exists, and public speaking and performance skills will progress. Students who join Warrior Speech and Debate, no matter their grade, are guaranteed the development of life-long skills.
