Sixteen topics. Two speeches for each—affirmative and negative. That makes 32 speeches overall that the debate team prepared for the Congress Meet on Nov. 5.

Students in Speech and Debate competed in Congress and other events such as extemporaneous speaking, oral interpretation, cross examination and Lincoln Douglas. In the Congress Meet, all four competing students made it to the final chamber. 

“Out of the 20 kids in the final chamber, we had a seventh, ninth, 11th, and 13th, and they took the top four to move on to state,” AP US History and Debate teacher Josh Marsh said. “[Even though] we didn’t make state this year, all four of them moving on [and] placing is phenomenal.”

Senior Justin Khadavi was one of the students who advanced to the final chamber. It was his first time competing, and he said that he felt proud of how he did. 

“I was kind of nervous [at first], but after warming up after like an hour or two, I really enjoyed it,” Khadavi said. “I moved on to the final round, [and] was three spots [away] from going to state. I wasn’t taking it too seriously, but to see that I did well was very motivating for me.” 

Sophomore Olivia Mahlmeister also competed in Congress. She said there was a lot of preparation and work required for this event. 

“The [preparations] for it are very brutal,” Mahlmeister said. “It’s a lot of work to do, and you have to know [all 32 speeches] front to back if you really wanna do [well]. You [also] have to be really good at public speaking.”

Mahlmeister said that, despite the difficult preparations and her last-minute decision to compete because her friends needed an extra person, she still really enjoyed Congress. 

“I really liked it,” Mahlmeister said. “It’s a lot of collaborating because you build off of each other’s arguments and each other’s points. And you can address them as senators, so it’s fun. People also crack a lot of jokes, so I think I did really [well] on that too. I think [I had a] nice sense of humor that I could bring in.”

Although she said she had a fun time at Congress, Mahlmeister said that she was especially excited for the Lincoln Douglas event, which she also participated in. 

“Lincoln Douglas was the [event] that I originally wanted to do, when I first came in,” Mahlmeister said. “I’ve always been good at confrontation, so it’s just something that I thought I [would] like. The cross examination part was probably my favorite out of all of it.”

Although freshman Anjali Eswaramoorthi didn’t take part in Congress, she did participate in extemporaneous speaking events. Due to it being her first time, she said that it was a nerve-wracking experience. 

“I was really nervous because I didn’t know what it was gonna be like in a real meet,” Eswaramoorthi said. “But then after I did it and after I started studying I really felt more confident about it.”

Eswaramoorthi said that she has a few different ways she likes to prepare for her competitions and improve herself. 

“I prepare a few practice speeches by myself,” Eswaramoorthi said. “I also watched other people’s videos just to see how the people in nationals did it, and then I tried to emulate that into my own [speeches].”

Marsh said he was very proud of his students for how well they did, especially considering that it was some students’ first time ever competing. No matter how well they do, he said that his main priority is just supporting them and helping them improve. 

“I don’t expect my students to be super successful their first time,” Marsh said. “I want them to understand that [they’re] going in and competing against schools that might have done this for three, four years. So, just getting the experience, getting their foot in the door, kind of seeing what to expect at these competitions [and] getting the feedback so that they can work on fixing things [is important]. Just being that positive cheerleader for them and always being there and understanding that I know that they’re always supported [is] so awesome.”