Early in the morning, in front of Walpole High School (WHS), 25 Speech and Debate students met to make their way to the annual Gracia tournament at Natick High School (NHS), alongside Natick High alum and coach Emily Murray. Following the annual Yale tournament that started on Sept. 19, Walpole Speech and Debate students joined together to compete in Massachusetts for the first time this year: the first trip of this school year was held at Yale in Connecticut.
Speech and Debate is a team that requires students to go to the meetings that take place every Monday: some events require research prior to the tournament. In between the event rounds, students are given the chance to converse with other people from different schools and are exposed to different kinds of speakers; also, giving students a window to improve their public speaking skills.
Despite Speech and Debate being one team, not every tournament offers both Speech and Debate. For example, the Little Lex tournament in Lexington, Mass. only offers events to students within debate. However, on Nov. 15, all the students interested in speech were given the chance to compete at NHS.
“I love that my team can also do debate events since those were not offered when I was in high school. I started the team in the fall of 2011, and it is amazing to see how much this program has grown,” Murray said.
Novice, new to the event, WHS freshman Vivian Leong advanced to the final round of Radio where she faced some of the toughest competitors in Massachusetts. As only a first time competitor in one of the most popular events, with the help of Murray and the support from her teammates, Leong progressed to the final round.
Joining Speech and Debate in her junior year at WHS, novice Amy Issa participated in the NHS tournament as a radio speaker. Despite being new to Speech and Debate, Issa advanced to the final round where her hard work was recognized when she was awarded with the top novice award.
“It is hard to join a team so late in high school, but I am proud that I placed in the finals and earned an award in my very first tournament,” Issa said.
WHS juniors Cara Coyne and Vanshi Shroff placed fifth in Duo Interpretation, which was only the second time they have competed in this event. Making it to the final round, their “What To Expect When You’re Expecting” interpretation showed the audience their skills, ultimately earning a spot in the final round where they went against duo’s from the top performances in the state.
Speech Vice-President and WHS junior Aaron Arora made it to the final round for both his events: Informative Speaking and Programmed Oral Interpretation. Participating in several tournaments every year, Arora manages to lead the WHS team to success and urges other students to join.
WHS senior Anna Pileggi placed third in Children’s Literature and was elated as she has not placed in a speech event since she had focused mostly on debate events during her first two years on the team.
Speech and Debate fosters connections and opens students to new ideas and ways of thinking. It is important for students to be confident and work hard to achieve their goals. WHS is proud to give students the chance to participate in oratory competitions; Speech and Debate has about one to two tournaments each month, such as the NHS tournament.
