Moeller Speech and Debate Team
Have you been looking for a new club at Moeller? Maybe you want to try out public speaking, maybe you get a thrill from arguing over current events with friends and family, or maybe you’re just looking to kill some time. If so, then you might want to try out our speech and debate team.
The Moeller Speech and Debate Team is in full swing for the year, and competitions are underway with strong results already rolling in. At the Olentangy Liberty Classic Speech and Debate Tournament just this past weekend, the team finished in seventh place out of sixteen teams with nine students placing.
For those who don’t know much about speech and debate, the team is proctored by Mr. Eble and is split into two parts: the speech team and the debate team. The team meets as a whole on Mondays, then the speech team meets on Tuesdays, and the debate team on Thursdays. All practices are held in room 327 right after school until 5pm. Speech and debate might seem alienating at first, but once students begin to grasp the process, it can be really fun.
The debate side of the team is often what people think of when they hear about the club. “We usually debate some sort of topic regarding philosophy or policy,” said sophomore debater Mason Ross, “whether international or domestic, mostly over governmental issues.” In practices, the debate team writes cases about their current topic, trying to find weaknesses in each other’s arguments. This practice helps prepare students for matches and tournaments, where they’ll be pitted against teams from other schools in a formatted debate. “The type of debate I do is Lincoln Douglass,” said Ross. “It’s a back-and-forth where we present our major papers then ask questions and try to prove whether a resolution is good or not.”
The speech team is a little more complicated because of the many categories in which students can compete. The main categories the team participates in are Interpretation, Extemporaneous, Informative, and Original Oratory.
Interpretation is an umbrella term for several events where the speaker will take an already written text and act it out. In a way, it is an acting event as well as a presentation. In the Extemporaneous category, the competitor is given thirty minutes to write and memorize a seven-minute speech about a topic provided at the start of the time. For the Informative event, the competitor writes a speech about a specific topic meant to inform people. Finally, Original Oratory is a speech written by a competitor to inform or persuade on a significant topic that has been thoroughly researched and organized into a presentation. Ultimately, speech offers many avenues where students can pursue their specific interests.
If you want to learn more about speech and debate, stop by any practice to get the full picture. You might end up finding a new favorite club.