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Speech and Debate Success at Districts and State

   Speech and Debate may not be as popular as other activities in the school such as basketball, football, or even track but the club takes just as much dedication, according to members. Speech and Debate takes practice and students have to be interested in the topics being discussed.

  Sophomore Michelle Arroyo, a two year participant in the club, is a multisport athlete, and still manages to do well in both school and have time for the debate team. Arroyo joined the club because it was recommended to her multiple times by different staff members, which made her curious.

  “Once I started speech and debate, I turned out to be pretty good at it. Speech and Debate can sometimes make school harder for me because I’m already double dipping in sports,” Arroyo said. “I try to practice at home. Most of us are going to debate in individual debates for districts, and not all of our members are going.”

Arroyo will be attending districts coming up.

  “I think I will do well. My goal individually is to place in districts like I did last year, and to achieve that goal I need to continue to practice and do well in upcoming events to prepare for districts,” Arroyo said.

Arroyo did well at districts, she placed third overall after getting first place all three rounds for pros. For her other event policy, she went into the final round as a sacrifice. At the end of the final round, she placed fourth as an alternate to state.

  Sophomore Jessica Ceja is also in Speech and Debate. Ceja has been doing Speech and Debate for almost two complete years. Ever since Ceja heard about Speech and Debate, she was hesitant about joining the team.

  “The reason I joined is because I wanted to be able to be more involved with school and I also wanted try something new,” Ceja said. “ I would tell people that wanted to join to definitely try it, I was superstitious about it in the beginning, but I ended up loving it and it’s now something I love doing.”

  Ceja did well in the University of Oregon tournament. She beat out students from 42 different high schools in the northwest, placing fourth. Going into districts, Ceja didn’t feel as confident, but she did end up making alternates for her event.

While no victory is certain, especially in resurrecting a program, we are very proud of our team and what it has accomplished.  I know we have some strong performers and debaters, and I would be very surprised if we do not have at least two of our teams place in districts and compete in state,” Speech and debate coach Malan said.

      Marissa Bertucci is also the coach of the Speech and Debate team along with Malan. Bertucci is very happy with how far the Speech and Debate team has progressed from the beginning of the year.

      “Many members went from knowing nothing at all to competing in our upcoming districts tournament for a chance to place at state,” Speech and Debate coach Bertucci said.

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