Speech and debate is a wonderful opportunity for students to have their voices heard. Students in speech and debate attend competitions once a month and sometimes on Saturdays throughout the school year. Jennifer Dailey, the speech and debate teacher, stated “The topics depend on what kind of event the kids choose to do. Many deal with current events and change on a monthly basis; whereas others have the students choose a topic of their choice.” 

 There was a speech and debate competition on Wednesday, September 18, 2019. The students left school around 1:15 and returned to campus around 8:30. With an hour and a half car ride, the competition started at 3:45 and ended at 6:30. The students decided to stay after the competition ended to see the results. The tournament was held at Piper High School, and it was mainly middle schools competing. All of the students must compete, but how the students deliver their speech or argument depends on which subject they are competing in. 

Ms. Dailey feels as though her students motivate each other. “The speech and debate team is really caring and supportive of one another. We become more like a family.” stated Dailey. Speech and debate is genuinely more about having fun. The students care about bringing each other up when someone doesn’t do as well as they would have liked, and celebrating those who have excelled. One of the ways the students enjoy celebrating is going out as a team and getting a treat such as Dunkin Donuts! 

The students take notes on every subject that is discussed and watch various examples of each event so the students can better understand what it looks like in action. The speech and debate team over at Cypress Bay High School spends a lot of their extra time here at Falcon Cove helping our speech and debate team. The Cypress students work with kids in specific events and really explaining everything to them to make them feel comfortable. Not only that, but the students work together on projects and motivate each other to do better than before.