Preparing to attend their state competition from March 2-3, the Speech and Debate team is working to ensure that they come back from the competition victorious.

“We use the local tournaments that precede the championships to prepare for this major competition,” Speech and Debate adviser Henry Evans said. “However, each tournament is an isolated event and students who do better in other tournaments may or may not succeed at state. We have been doing well at our prior tournaments, so I am excited at our chances.”

Tournaments are a chance to show off students’ skills and what they have learned during the season. 

“In my first few tournaments I really wasn’t that prepared. I was still getting the hang of doing interpretation and tournaments and going to another school and speaking,” junior Victor Pedzik said. “My personal philosophy is not to get too confident with it as you never know what can happen, but I feel good going into it and I’m very excited to see how my peers do as well.”

With both team and individual events being offered for students to participate in, teamwork is valued and practiced within the club.  

“The strong points of our club can be best described in two words: unity and competitiveness. Our family morale is strong and it helps us feel like we’re not alone when we compete,” Evans said. “We are also competitive and that can be a helpful mindset during the more tense moments of a tournament.” 

Due to the long and often tiring nature of tournaments, part of the preparation for the state competition includes team members building their endurance. 

“It’s very draining for me. You’re out for eight hours after already going to school. So you’ve been out for like 12 hours which is a very long time,” Pedzik said. “ But overall, it’s still very rewarding and worth it.”

As this is the first year Speech and Debate I has been offered, members have been able to spend lots of time studying and practicing for their events.

 “At the state tournament I’m doing a dramatic interpretation and I’m doing a humorous interpretation. I’ve done [dramatic interpretations] probably twice before in other tournaments and I’ve done okay so I think I’m prepared for that one. I have to work on my humorous interpretation, I have to memorize it and really get it down,” Pedzik said. “I’ve been kind of neglecting it and I usually find myself in this exact situation where I kind of wait on it until last minute, but I’m going to make a promise to myself that I’ll memorize it beforehand. It’s kind of a labor of love for me.”

Having gone through numerous tournaments together,  the speech and debate team is optimistic about their chances.

“I think we’re all a family. I think everyone in speech and debate, we see each other, we help each other. I don’t think there’s a social hierarchy,” Victor Pedzic said. “I want everyone to be collaborative and see each other as equals, I just want everyone to be helping each other out.”