Speaking is a life skill, and at the Speech and Debate Club students can learn how to communicate their thoughts eloquently and express themselves in a formal setting. But the Speech and Debate Club does so much more for its members. It teaches students how to funnel emotion into literature, transforming it into a work of living art. It also teaches students how to debate in a way that is respectful but also advances their argument in a strategic manner. And it helps nurture leadership skills that are often beneficial later in life.
“It’s a productive way to spend your time and it’s a lot of leadership experience,” Speech and Debate club Vice President Tejas Chitragar said. “As a varsity [member] there’s a kind of experience of being looked up to that you can’t get in a lot of other places.”
The club not only serves as a way to cultivate speaking and leadership skills, it’s a community, a place for people to come and further their high school experience by having a community at school that shares their love of speaking, debating, and self expression through literature.
“It’s given me a place to go after school,” Chitragar said. “I would have just gone home and not really done anything.”
A big part of the club’s growth over the past year has been due to the changing of the club sponsor. Ms. Kristi Bowers, the speech and debate coach, has brought about a wave of positive changes for the club, bringing members more tournament opportunities and ways to advance to higher level competitions. Bowers also has a lot of experience in debate programs.
“I’ve been teaching two years here at Reedy,” Bowers said. “I helped with debate at Princeton [High School], and I also did speech when I taught in Blue Ridge.”
Not only does Bowers have a plethora of teaching experience, she herself competed in speech events as a student.
“When I was in school I did speech, I’m a little bit dramatic for those who know me,” Bowers said. “It was something that I enjoyed doing when I went to college. I competed several times and did speech there and then it just kind of seemed like a natural progression as a career.”
The Speech and Debate club has been around since the beginning of Reedy, but it’s undergone many changes since then. Including the constant changing of the coach. And some of those changes did help better the club as a whole.
“There’s been a lot of change that’s happened in the last few years,” Chitragar said. “We changed teachers which had a pretty big impact because the new teacher is way more involved and in a lot of ways that’s very beneficial.”
The club still has a little ways to go before it is as established as schools in the nearby areas.
“I would like us to have some legitimacy within the debate circuit,” Bowers said. “I feel like too many times other districts look and go ‘oh well that’s Reedy’ and we don’t have the best debate reputation simply because we’ve had so much turnover in the position.”
While the club struggles to establish itself within the DFW area, there are ways to resolve this issue. Increasing the number of members the club has is a way to expand and strengthen its reputation.
“I would like to see the club grow in numbers but I would also like us to grow in strength,” Bowers said. “So if my numbers don’t grow I’m okay with that as long as I have better stronger speech and debate kiddos.”
The Speech and Debate club serves as a community and a place for students to grow in their speaking and leadership capabilities. It’s a place where students can pursue an event that nurtures creativity and provides skills that will benefit all students now and into the future as adults.
“It’s also good for outside high school,” Chitrigar said, referring to the speaking skills acquired in the club. “Because those are life skills you need to know in the future.”
