About our team

WELCOME TO THE WOLFPACK SPEECH & DEBATE PROGRAM. This program is a varsity activity and should be considered a privilege. We expect all team members to follow all activity guidelines and program expectations. With the foundation of the most successful AA Forensics program in Montana, the birth and growth of the GLACIER WOLFPACK SPEECH & DEBATE TEAM has already established themselves as the “pride of Montana.”  

As five-time State AA Champions, the bar has already been set, and we hope to continue to grow and improve. In fact, we have placed in the top three AA teams at the state tournament every year since 2008-09, most recently a hard-fought state championship 2018-19 season. Emerging from the largest program in this region, the Wolfpack program continues to build on the history and tradition of the Flathead County High School program!  An average of 125-160 students (nearly 10% of the entire GHS population) competes for the Wolfpack Speech & Debate team. For the past several seasons, according to records kept at the National Speech & Debate Association (formerly the National Forensic League) in Wisconsin, our program not only had both the most active members and most new members in the State–in fact we were nationally ranked in both areas.  The varsity tournament season starts in November and runs until mid February. Junior Varsity tournaments end before Christmas. School District #5 provides transportation to tournaments. Glacier High and the GHS Booster Club provides lodging at overnight tournaments and most meals for two-day tournaments.  Other meals and supplies are at the student’s expense.

Montana High School Activities has sanctioned competitive Speech & Debate since the early 1960’s; however debate activities can be traced to the earliest days of Montana. Since the turn of the twentieth century, competitive speech & debate activities have played a vital role in the culture of our community. Glacier High School, despite missing a senior class, competed in their first season at the AA level in 2007-08, the first new AA school since Billings Skyview in 1987.   The AA Conference has expanded to sixteen schools last year (Glacier, Flathead, Helena, Helena Capital, Missoula Sentinel, Missoula Hellgate, Missoula Big Sky, Butte, Great Falls, C.M. Russell, Billings West, Billings Senior, Billings Skyview, Bozeman, Gallatin and Belgrade.  As Speech & Debate continues to grow in Montana, the NSDA Montana splitting into two districts--both the East and the West.   Our division will feature the best AA, A, B and C programs from western Montana.  This includes the our new Western Conference (Glacier Wolfpack, Flathead Braves/Bravettes, Missoula Sentinel Spartans, Missoula Hellgate Knights, Missoula Big Sky Eagles, Helena Bengals, Helena Capital Bruins and the Butte Bulldogs).  

Wolfpack Speech Team members consistently earn academic honors. We are proud of our numerous Academic All Americans, and consistently have the largest number of Montana recipients for the Academic All State Team. The varsity team’s average GPA last season has maintained a GPA between 3.50 and 3.91 since we began, and usually over forty GHS students earn a Academic All-State Honors. If you get a chance, stop by room E110 for a visual display of the success in our Wolfpack Wall of Fame.

Much of the success can be traced back to the leadership of coaches and alumni of the Wolfpack program of today and those coaches of who helped build our program.  In fact Megan Leininger, Matt Schwager, Quinn Maroney, Caroline Houser, Draylen Askvig, Brandon Simpson, Clayton McDougall, Brittanie Dull, Keckeley Habel, Hunter Garbacz, Tanner Maroney, Levi Proctor, Anna Deleray, Makenna Siebenaler, Christian Diaz, Jessica Mount, Noah Hill, Harrison Kauffman, Ben Habel, Aaron Robinson, Anika Fritz, Kyersten Siebenaler, Adam Habel, Aleesha Hillis, Te'a Mergenthaler, Natalie Krueger , Brock Adkins , Brenden Anderson, Kenna Bemis, Millie Espeseth, Matt Knuffke, Harrison Rennie, Abigail Roston, Jon Sorensen, Emma Trunkle, Emmett Van Allen, Trevor Woodward, Malea Bauer, Becca Cross, Zach Hill, Drew Lorenc, Brady Kazmier, Akhil Patel, Matt Glimm, Simon Hill, Sierra Riley, Mercedes Santa, Simon Roston, Rory Smith, Kenna Vanorny, Mason Fauth, Alexandra Houseworth, Derek Smith and Alexa Wilton have all been honored on the Glacier High Wall of Fame. This winter another crop of former GHS Speech & Debate students (Mac Adkins, Kenna Sandler, Lane McKoy, Ryan Webster, Timmy Glanville and Harrison Sanders) will be added to the Wall of Fame.  Several GHS graduates have competed (or are competing) in collegiate forensics. 

Former GHS Speech & Debate students have been honored with the University of Montana's prestigious "Presidential Leadership Scholarship" including Abby Connolly, Noah Hill, Teigan Avery, Brock Adkins, Millie Espeseth, Jenna McCrorie and Liv Wilson.  For more information about scholarship and admission opportunities, please see a GHS Coach or stop by the Glacier High Career Center.

Glacier’s early success is also credited to a strong community of support–from the community, the staff, the school board, and especially the administration including former GHS Principals Callie Langohr  & Micah Hill as well as the current GHS Admin team of Brad Holloway, Mark Dennehy, Lance Labrum, and Alan Stanfield.