This year our wonderful speech and debate team made it to the State Competition where they got to show off their skills, compete against the very best in Colorado, and create life-long memories. The team had a lot of students do incredibly well like Ian Alan who got second in his division. 

During competitions, the team does glance debates where they get a random topic and only have thirty minutes to prepare to debate their topic. They also could do speeches on poetry or storytelling. There is a duo division and a singles division for each category. 

Allan, explained his experience with the club and at state.” The state competition was very similar to other tournaments but there was a more serious vibe in the air. The hosting school was incredible as well, it looked like the capitol building. The difficult part was just the nerves for our veterans and newcomers because it makes it difficult to give speeches in certain cases.” Allan says. “I was pretty hopeful about my chances, I had a solid chance to make it to the semifinals but my placement overall was a shock. And my favorite speech was at a climate convention, the cop28, as I felt very prepared and my intro story was engaging and funny.” 

Lynessa Asplund was another state finalist, in her competition category, Congress. The team had over eight debaters who placed in the top 15 for their division.

 This following week the team goes in to compete in the national-qualifiers competition. Congratulations to everyone who placed at state, and good luck at your upcoming competition! Go Bulldogs!