Speech and debate team expanding to class

There are some major changes coming for Central’s speech team this upcoming year. First off, it will no longer just be competing at speech, but will be becoming both a speech and debate team. Additionally, for the 2019-2020 school year, speech will also be becoming an elective class that students will be able to take.  

Last year, the team only participated in speech competitions, and that will probably be the case for this year as well. However, next year, Mahannah, the speech team coach, is planning to morph the speech team into both speech and debate. There is a large interest in debate at Central and many students have been hoping for a debate team to start. Additionally, having a class, will make teaching debate much easier, as there will be more time as compared to after school meetings. 

For the 2019-2020 school year, the speech and debate team will also be becoming a class. The class will focus on the many different areas of speech and debate, including how to write a speech, how to deliver and speech, and how to participate in a debate. This class help the speech team grow, attract new members, and be more successful when competing. Isabella Shradar, a junior and second year member of the speech team, said, “I am so excited for speech to become a class because I believe that speech is such an important aspect of communication, especially in today’s society, where voicing your opinion is so important.” 

Last year was the first year of the speech team, and the four members competed in one competition. This year, the speech team has doubled, now having about eight participants. They are also planning to attend six competitions in the upcoming months starting in January. This will be major growth for the speech team, as they will be more active in speech competitions, and the club will be much larger. Shradar said, “Last year the four of us speech members were extremely close knit and I am excited to have more amazing people joining the team. My favorite part of speech is how the competitive spirit is so positive. Everyone is so supportive and excited to compete.” 

Overall, most people are looking forward to the changes for speech team. Both speech team becoming a class and becoming speech and debate will grow the speech department and make the team better. Shradar is also looking forward to this year on the team, and particularly for debate team next year. She said, “I am so excited for speech to become debate as well because in today’s society conflict and disagreement is so present, so it is important to learn how to present your argument while having a calm conversation. Also I love to argue so that is great.”