As junior Speech and Debate member Joy Yang puts it, “It’s speech and debate, not speech in debate.”
Speech and Debate is an extracurricular activity where students display public speaking and rhetoric skills in one of two groups: speech or debate. Specific skills for each of these groups are passed on from upperclassmen to underclassmen and further exemplified by adviser and social studies teacher, Mr. Jeffrey Kahn.
Students prepare their Speech and Debate materials during fifth block in Kahn’s room, and have the option to be as involved as they would like in weekend tournaments.
As for what makes each group unique, Kahn stressed that each group entails its own type of preparations and skill sets.
“If it’s speech, then they are choosing a play to perform or poetry to perform, or they’re writing a speech, or they’re answering questions about current events,” Kahn said. “If it’s debate, then they are researching both sides of a topic, and they are debating against people from other schools, trying to convince the judge that they’re right.”
While debating typically involves two sides arguing their cause, speech is a bit more multilayered, with two different types.
“There’s [Interpertation], which is more like acting, so if you’re the musical, you just perform different characters…Then there’s rhetoric, so that’s more of what you typically think, speeches, like TED talks,” junior speech member Joy Yang said. “Or you could do extemp which is where you research a topic in a limited amount of time.”
In addition to the skills that speech and debaters utilize in their respective groups, many have also found themselves blossoming in other areas. Sophomore Noel Springer participates in debate, and has noticed a variety of benefits it has brought to his personal life.
“Being presented with such an interesting topic, you have to read so much about it and learn all these different things about current events, history and all these different factors, and it really allows you to educate yourselves,” Springer said. “And I think it’s also just made me a lot better at writing, arguing, and just overall made me a better student, and also, I think a better person.”
These skills are something that the current team hopes it can pass down to new and aspiring Speech and Debate members through a May recruitment event, called the Strath Haven Instructional Tournament. The event, which was held on Saturday, May 16 at the high school, provided new and current members with a chance to practice different skills and events.
“It’s basically for people that want to join Speech and Debate, but they don’t want to go to a tournament because all the other tournaments are official. So this is just like a practice thing that they can get warmed up with if they want to join,” junior debate participant Rheya Singh said.
Kahn described the event as a day of fun as containing many student-led activities to help prepare the team for next year and teach skills to new members.
“We’re bringing over some of our middle schoolers, bringing some folks in who maybe did a little bit of work on the team this year, maybe want to try different events,” Kahn said. “In the beginning of the day, we’re going to separate into the different categories for whatever people are interested in, and then teach a skill and then practice that skill.”
The current team is preparing for the NCFL Grand National Tournament in Washington, DC over Memorial Day weekend. The traveling component of the team is what Springer finds contributes to its status as a team opposed to a club.
“We’re traveling all over the country to compete. So I think that it should definitely be viewed on the same level as a bunch of other activities, and should be definitely viewed as a team,” Springer said. “You can join a club and [not] really know everyone there, but a team is always full of different people that are always working together, always united by this thing that they’re doing.”
Yang stresses that joining Speech and Debate is valuable for a variety of reasons, particularly the memories made with teammates.
“In most speech rounds, everyone’s really chill, everyone’s just happy to watch other people perform, and it’s a really positive environment where we’re all cheering each other on, even though they’re also competing at the same time,” Yang said. “It’s a lot of funny memories.”
