The 2022-2023 Speech and Debate season is off to an exciting start! The first debate tournament on September 10th had 5 parliamentary debate entries, and the first speech tournament on October 1st had 13 individual event entries. In total, the team came back with 6 ranked victories!

Speech meetings are on Mondays before school, and debate meetings are Thursdays at lunch. As general meetings additionally occur on Mondays at lunch (all meetings in room 511), speech and debate is clearly a high commitment activity. However, as President and Speech Captain Gaia Micciancio expresses, “speech and debate is one of the best opportunities on campus to develop important life skills such as confidence, quick thinking, collaboration, and obviously public speaking. All activities are student-led and it is a great way to meet new people.”

Furthermore, bimonthly speech and debate tournaments offer students the opportunity to amplify their voices, discuss and debate issues, as well as speak upon several passions. In March, members of the team can compete at the state and national qualifiers, from there, they can qualify for the most prestigious tournaments of the year. During the former year of the Speech and Debate season, six students qualified for state, two competed at the online national tournament, and one took LJHS all the way to Louisville, Kentucky, to compete at the in-person national tournament!

With the overall enjoyment of speech and debate tournaments, coupled with team bonding and the educational aspect, speech and debate is a wonderful opportunity for students to gain new perspectives on different topics and inspire the need for change in our community.