Students are encouraged to compete in speech AND debate events throughout their career. Both build unique skills that complement each other and will help them throughout their life,  no matter the career path they choose. 

Speech focuses on helping them learn the skills to express their ideas and advocate for ideas and plans they believe in. Speech teaches them to to research, edit, and present a script (their own words or others) in a way that their ideas are most understandable and engaging.

Debate focus on the skills of how best to understand and advocate for both sides of an argument in a respectful and productive manner. With each topic they will be expected to research and create a strong case for and against the National Topic. At a tournament they will have the opportunity to present both sides of the argument against various opponents.  

For speech, debate skills can help students understanding their are multiple valid sides of most topics, which, in turn, helps students write stronger speeches advocating for their chosen topic. For debate, speech skills can help students strengthen the presentation of their case by teaching them how to engage their audience and clarify their points so their arguments can be stronger.

While most students choose 1-2 main events that they focus on perfecting, experimenting with others along the way will strengthen those main events and tournaments can be even more fun.

Speech involves a presentation by one or two students that is judged against a similar type of presentation by others in a round of competition. There are two general categories of speech events, public address events and interpretation events. 

Public address (PA) events feature a speech written by the student, either in advance or with limited prep, that can answer a question, share a belief, persuade an audience, or educate the listener on a variety of topics.

 Interpretation (IN) events center upon a student selecting and performing published material and appeal to many who enjoy acting and theatre. 

Debate challenges individuals or teams of students to persuasively argue for and against a topic. A debater’s goal is to convince a judge that, as a general principal, their side of the topic is more valid. Through extensive research and preparation, students in debate develop a deep understanding of complex topics, honing their ability to think critically and analyze important issues from multiple perspectives.