Imagine standing before an audience, all eyes on you. The lights shine onto you as you deliver a speech, argument, or rebuttal. How would you feel? For the George School Speech and Debate Team, this is more than just a scenario. Since the team was founded last year, members have competed in weekly tournaments, attended countless practices, and focused on gaining academic skills and techniques. Speech and debate consists of more than just challenges to overcome and victories to achieve. It helps you learn more about yourself and the world, step further out of your comfort zone, and work hard to achieve your goals.
Speech and debate are categorized similarly with both being public speaking endeavors, but they are separate activities with unique traits and styles. Speech involves making a formal presentation or recitation in front of a judge. Speech events range from humorous and expressive Dramatic Interpretation to fast-paced and high-pressure Impromptu, to personal and passionate Original Oratory. Speech provides a variety of events to specialize in, and there are options to suit everyone’s preferences. On the other hand, debate involves an individual or team convincing a judge that their side and argument on a certain topic are the most valid. It is generally interactive, research-intensive, and involves critical thinking on the spot. Common debate styles include Public Forum, Policy Debate, World Schools Debate, and Lincoln-Douglas, our team’s preferred style to compete in.
The Speech and Debate Team was established in 2023 by Kavya Gounder ‘26, the current team leader and a speech competitor. She started it with Peter Paik, who has 20+ years of debate coaching experience and is the team’s head coach. In addition, Lily Yang has become a new assistant coach this year and was a national champion speech competitor in China. Kavya originally founded the team towards the beginning of her sophomore year. She was passionate about speech and debate in middle school. She wanted to bring it to George School because she thought of it as an enjoyable extracurricular activity to help students improve their research, public speaking, teamwork, and presentation skills.
Speech and debate offer a wide range of benefits. Most obviously, participants build confidence in speaking, communicating, and expressing themselves eloquently. Joining speech and debate has helped Avery Hillegas ‘28, a new speech competitor, to step out of her comfort zone while improving her communication skills. She shares, “I have learned how to speak publicly in front of others. Since these are people I have never met before or gone to school with, I engage in a different way than usual and it pushes me out of my comfort zone. So, it’s a new way for me to branch out and engage my public speaking skills.”
LJ Faustin ‘27 is a varsity debater with several years of experience. She has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Pennsylvania state tournament in March of 2024, and has recently placed in the top four competitors at the George Mason University debate tournament in December of 2024. LJ expressed her social growth journey since joining the debate team, “I used to be a very closed-off and reserved person, I was really scared to branch out. Since joining the team, I have been more open to learning from different people. Especially with all the tournaments that we have, you have to learn how to interact with people from different schools in different backgrounds.””
In addition, speech and debate also teach academic skills and provide intellectual growth. They require critical thinking on the spot, the ability to evaluate several different arguments, and the skill of researching thoroughly. Martin Dooley ‘28, a new junior varsity debater on the team, elaborates on the use of debate for different academic pursuits, “Debate involves a lot of research which can be useful for subjects like Science, History, and English.” The academic, social, and intellectual skills of speech and debate can be used throughout your life, and for all kinds of endeavors. Chisom Achebe ‘27, who is a new speech competitor, explains the challenges and benefits of her main speech event, Impromptu, “It enables me to think on my feet since I have to create an effective and well-thought-out speech under pressure. I chose impromptu because of the challenge.”
To achieve all that it has, community and camaraderie are essential to the success of the Speech and Debate Team. LJ Faustin explains, “Debate is not just about having debate rounds, but there is also a holistic experience that comes with that. It is great to see how our team is evolving since we now have some new members who are doing well.” Kavya Gounder acknowledged her experience promoting community as the team leader, “A big part of community is students helping each other to improve all the time. For example, during practice debate rounds, students will help judge each other. Even during speech practices, we will all give feedback on each other’s speeches. As a leader, I try to make an environment that allows the team community members to be supportive of one another.”
Speech and debate require immense dedication, including attending practices, writing speeches and cases, and constantly adapting to losses and constructive criticism. However, the hard work is worth it. Kavya sums this up, “Every competitor, whoever you ask, will tell you that they improve between every tournament. The practice we do, the work we put in, and how we try to do our best at every tournament to improve as speakers and debaters, really does show in the end in our performance as the season continues.” As the leader of the team and who fulfilled the original vision of starting it, Kavya’s immense experience with not only speech and debate but also leadership and building community has made her perspective valuable for the team.
Throughout the team’s development and progress, countless accomplishments have been reached. Last season alone, four debaters qualified for the Pennsylvania state tournament, a highly esteemed competition for Pennsylvania’s 38 most accomplished high-school debaters in the Lincoln-Douglas category. In addition, two speech competitors and one debater qualified for a national debate tournament held in Chicago. So far this year, several team members have advanced to the final rounds in larger tournaments and many competitors have high ambitions of qualifying for state and national tournaments.
So whether you are a seasoned public speaker or someone hoping to overcome stage fright, now is the time to join the Speech and Debate Team! All of the skilled and accomplished members of the team have once started from scratch as novices. But through hard work and dedication, they have now reached many achievements and gained several skills. The team welcomes all levels of experience, and practices are held every week (contact Peter Paik for more information). The Speech and Debate Team is not just about competing, it is about growing, learning, and forming your community. Finally, Chisom Achebe expresses, “I am really happy that I joined. If anyone is on the fence about joining the Speech and Debate Team, you should take that leap of faith because you will get so much out of it.”
So why not take that step to see where it leads you?
