After much preparation, Apopka High School’s Speech and Debate team competed at their first competition on Saturday, September 30th. They came home with three medals from the first FCDI (Florida Civics and Debate Initiative) competition. I, Heather Rice, placed second in Novice Congressional Debate, which is an event where students emulate Congresspeople and debate pieces of legislation. Dalton Page, a senior, placed third in Novice Lincoln-Douglas Debate, an event where students debate a variety of issues, which are typically questions of morality or justice. Additionally, Senior Samantha Faucette placed first in Varsity Informative Speaking. This is a speech event that is based exclusively on facts and does not try to convince the audience of anything. The Blue and White was given the opportunity to speak to different students in Speech and Debate as well as the club’s sponsor, Ms. Brown.
Ms. Brown shared that she was very happy with the results of the recent competition, and Samantha expressed that it was “a successful weekend for the debate team.” Another aspect of competitions which students can participate in is judging. Junior Sayaa Lijo judged for the first time on Saturday. She reported it was “…very enlightening about how not only those kids can improve, but how I can improve too.” She judged the Public Forum event, which is a debate event that centers around current affairs, as well as the Lincoln-Douglas Debate. She said it was stressful, but she would definitely do it again.
The Speech and Debate team is also preparing for NCDC, which stands for National Civics and Debate Championship, also known as The Great Debate. NCDC is a competition that lasts three days and features three different events: Congressional Debate, Impromptu Speaking, and Extemporaneous Debate. The Debate captain, Senior Samuel Neubel, explained each of these events. “Extemporaneous Debate, which is [where] you have limited time to prepare, Congress, where you’re given a set of legislation [and] you act like the Congressperson, and Impromptu Speaking [where] you give a speech on the spot.” Last year around 30 students competed. Samuel Neubel placed in the top 20 and Joselyn Diaz, a senior, won the Freedom Cup.
Joselyn explained that the Freedom Cup is an award “which is given to one student who shows they hold the upstanding quality of a good citizen.” Ms. Brown also won the Inspiring Coach award, which is meant to honor coaches who helped develop the skills of the students competing in The Great Debate. Ms. Brown shared that she is very positive about the team’s prospects at this year’s NCDC, as the team is going to be “practicing more and more,” she explained.
During our interviews, we were also given insight into the behind-the-scenes work of Speech and Debate. Samantha, the team’s co-captain and Speech captain, explained one of her responsibilities is “…whatever it takes to take the novices to the next level.” She is part of the leadership team, along with Joselyn Diaz, who’s a co-captain as well as the Congress captain. Joselyn expressed the whole reason she wanted to be involved in a leadership position was “to share my love for debate.” She teaches all the students who compete in Congressional Debate and makes sure they’re on the right track for competitions. Samuel summarized his responsibilities as “practices, tournaments, [and] fundraising.”
Everyone we talked to urged students to just jump right in and join Speech and Debate if they’re interested. Samuel described how many students would be a great fit, but aren’t aware of it. “If you love history, if you love economics, if you love politics, if you’re one of those people who are really active in researching social issues or if you’re just very opinionated, Speech and Debate is an amazing community that’s welcoming you with open arms.” Ms. Brown echoed this, saying the reason she became the sponsor of Speech and Debate was to give students a space to learn how to express who they are and what they care about.
