After weeks of tireless research, practice and dedication, Edmond Memorial High School’s debate team prevailed over several other Oklahoma high schools in the speech and debate tournament at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma. The Bulldog team performed well in each category, with individuals ranking high in many different categories. The team earned the 6A third-place trophy, and several members qualified for regionals.
Gathering a deep understanding of a debate topic through research is arguably one of the most important aspects of performing well at tournaments. For this reason, the debate team has spent extensive amounts of time researching its topics in order to form cohesive and persuasive arguments on topics that are oftentimes extremely nuanced or obscure. Junior Madeline Reid, a first-year member of the debate team, has admitted to the stress that tournament preparation can cause but values the importance of the work required to score well in competitions.
“I find [tournament preparation] stressful, but I wouldn’t say it’s a negative kind of stress,” Reid said. “I would say it’s more of a mix of stress and excitement. It’s very nerve-wracking to go against people in their debates when you know nothing about what they’re going to talk about [when] or you have to come up with four-minute speeches in 30 seconds, but whenever you’re well-prepared and you work beforehand, you don’t stress out as much in the tournament.”
Reid achieved first place alongside junior Nolan O’Daniel as her partner for the novice Public Forum Debate and earned second place for best speakers in this category. In general, the novice team showed exceptional skill throughout the competition.
“The novice Public Forum team actually swept,” Reid said. “First through fourth [places] were all Memorial teams. We ended up only having to go against Memorial teams during the finals because nobody else made it as far as we did.”
Sara Nichols, an AP government and politics teacher and the EMHS speech and debate coach, shares Reid’s prideful sentiment regarding the novice group and is satisfied with the 6A team’s performance. The sheer amount of awards and trophies earned at SNU’s tournament shows the team’s progress, from first-year novices to 6A seniors.
“We got 23 awards, and then a [6A] sweepstakes trophy as well, so I’m super proud of our kids,” Nichols said. “We had a ton of novice kids as well, so that’s really great to see that the newer people are going to really progress and do well.”
Senior Olivia Romanson, the 6A speech and debate team captain, has been participating in debate since her sophomore year of high school. With her level of experience and leadership, she has helped guide the team throughout the semester until this point. The awards taken home are not the only positive part of debate tournaments. Both Romanson and Reid have expressed their appreciation for the community they have within the team, and the act of going to debate competitions only strengthens that bond.
“[Tournaments are] a really big team bonding experience because we’re split into two classes,” Romanson said. “So, we don’t get to really talk to the other class, but at tournaments you get to meet a whole bunch of new people. Also, you just get to learn a whole lot about yourself in your rounds, and you gain a whole bunch of confidence in yourself and in your case.”
The relationship between students on the debate team does not end with simply making new friends, either. The class dynamic allows members at different levels of skill and experience to collaborate and aid each other while preparing for tournaments. This dynamic aided many of the novice debaters in their performances, and this deeply contributed to the team’s success at SNU.
“Considering that I’m [a] novice, I got a lot of help from the 6A debaters,” Reid said. “In practice, they’re able to assist me with how I should word things and what my arguments should look like. I feel that I wouldn’t have been able to perform as well as I did without the help of upperclassmen.”
After a promising start to the school year, the EMHS debate team pulled through with an incredible win, with several 6A debaters set to compete at regionals later in the school year. This tournament has greatly improved the debate skills of students on the team, and as a whole, it demonstrated the true talent and dedication each member of the team can showcase.
Contact Emma Lynch at [email protected]
