Senior Shannon Ernst makes this year her third consecutive year of going to State for Speech and Debate. She has also succeeded in making it to State for every year that she has competed at districts.

Being the team captain, Shannon is well known to the Speech and Debate club. Responsibility and dedication are some values that she brings to the table by rarely missing school meetings and practicing daily on her own time. In the end, her hard work has paid off by sending her to State this year.

“She is highly dedicated,” Shannon’s sister, Sarah Ernst, said. “The only thing that she would skip Speech and Debate for is the horses, like her spring horse classic competition.”

At State, Shannon has never made it to finals but has broke through to the octofinals. She has also competed in at least two of her events each time she has gone to State. This year, she hopes to break through to the finals.

 “Competing at State is a lot of fun!” said Shannon enthusiastically. “Western Oregon has a beautiful campus as well.”

Parliamentary, Impromptu and Prose are the three events that Shannon participates in. In the districts competition, she placed first in all of her events except for Impromptu, in which she placed second. These results are sending her to the State competition in a few weeks.

“She will practice after school, with her team, working on Parliamentary debate and Impromptu,” Shannon’s dad, Keith Ernst, remarked. “She’ll spend several hours working on her Prose presentation at home.”

Shannon has had strong interest in Speech and Debate for many years. In her eyes, participating in this club was a logical step to take because she has enjoyed it since middle school. However, that is not the only reason as to why she is fond of this club.

“[Speech and Debate] accepts people who are academically bright. Nobody gets discriminated. It helps with college and it also helps with making connections,” Shannon said.

Alongside Speech and Debate, Shannon takes full IB. There is a well known rumor among students that full IB is very time-consuming. However, Shannon finds the time to do other activities, such as Speech and Debate, and even has some down time to do her other hobbies, such as riding horses.

“Shannon schedules her ‘free time.’ She rides dressage on a leased horse named Freddie and shows competitively,” Keith explained. “She captains and coaches the Marion County 4H Horse Judging Team as well.”

Riding horses is one of Shannon’s hobbies. She thoroughly enjoys riding and competing. She puts forth dedication to both this and Speech and Debate and rarely misses an event for either of them. Only when important events come up in one or the other, such as the spring horse classic competition, will she miss a day in one of the activities.

Organization is greatly needed for a busy schedule, such as the one Shannon has on a daily basis, in order to get everything that needs to be done accomplished. This is definitely a skill that she does not lack, according to Sarah.

“She organizes everything she needs to do,” Sarah said. “She always gets things done and gets them done well.”

Despite her busy schedule, Shannon still plans out goals for herself as well as strategies for the upcoming state competition. Three of the goals that she has are to: qualify for State, make finals at State and bring home an award, being that this is her senior year. She is already a third of the way there and is making good progress towards accomplishing the rest.

Although it is true that the quality of the competitors that make it to state is higher than those at practices, Shannon can take on this tough competition due to her incredible work ethic, according to Sarah. She is also not a competitor to underestimate.

“Alongside qualifying for State every year that she has competed, she won one of the hardest tournaments against college students,” Sarah said.

Shannon brings enthusiasm to every competition that she attends and also gives it everything she has not being one to give up easily. Success is something she strives for.

“She really enjoys the competition, the challenge and the opportunity to work with a very diverse and interesting group of people,” Keith said. “She strives to do her very best and to help her team, always.”

Shannon has the dedication and has brought home proof through awards that she has what it takes to make it far in State. This year alone she has won five awards, and State has not even come around yet.

A victory at State with her teammates will help her senior year be one to remember. But, no matter how Shannon and her teammates finish, the memories made throughout the years will not be forgotten.