(Lauren G./Staff)

Ten Speech and Debate students are heading to states in Wooster, Ohio, on March 4-5. 

Spandana and Lindsey will compete in In Public Forum, which requires two competing teams to argue about a given topic and create speeches spontaneously. They need to be ready to counter their opponents on the spot. Topics can range from cryptocurrency to organic agriculture. Spandana, a third year team member, says, “I have been able to greatly improve my public speaking skills and learn a lot about current social and political issues.”

Congress involves debating bills by addressing the subjects with a variety of perspectives. This year’s competitors include Alex, Saagar, Tiko, and Yuvraj. Alex, a co-captain and three-year member of the team, says “the Congress team has really stepped up this year and this is by far the best year for Congress in CA history at both the state and national level”

David, a first year and youngest member of the team, will compete in Declamation, a category in which he must memorize a pre-written speech composed by an outside source. 

Also in the Speech section is Alan, a second year, involved in Dramatic Interpretation, which requires students to select an excerpt from a dramatic play or novel and perform their own interpretation of the work. 

On the flip side, second year member, Anna, competes in Original Oratory, which requires students ato compose their own speech regarding any topic and memorize the speech. Sam, a US Extemp speaker, must choose from three prompts and compose a 7-minute speech on one of them. “Doing extemp has been a great experience for me because I’m more informed about current events, and I’m also a better public speaker because of it,” says Sam.

Each member has put in the work twice a week every week since August and is ready to grab the gold.