Led by senior presidents Emily Cheung, Sophie Monroe and coach Hoon Ko, the Speech and Debate Club prepares its members for various types of speech and debate-related competitions. “Speech and Debate really is a team in many senses,” Ko said. “Some coaches describe speech and debate as a non- contact sport. We have a season. We have competitions and tournaments and rivals and big match-ups.”

The club consists of two separate sections: speech and debate. Students competing in speech can choose their own theme to write a corresponding speech about, perform a speech from a book or play or give an impromptu speech on any given matter.

In debate, students choose a topic to study for a year, semester or a month. Then, during competition, students take part in arguments based on what they have studied.

Last year, the Speech and Debate Club had about 15 members. This year, however, the number has tripled to 45. The club organizes the students into novice, JV and varsity levels. “Those with basically no experience are in the novice group,” junior member Adam Swart said. “JV then has members who have some prior experience while varsity features those with the most familiarity with speech and debate.”

Club members generally attend one or two tournaments per month. The tournaments include teams from other schools from Santa Clara County. Tournaments usually have different rounds that eventually lead to finals between two different teams. In addition, the club travels to one overnight tournament every year. “Most of the tournaments we go to are one day events at local high schools, but we have been to many away tournaments,” Monroe wrote in an email message. “The team last year went to a weekend tournament at the University of California, Berkeley and this year traveled to University of the Pacific for a three-day event.” The members also compete in tournaments at Santa Clara University and DeAnza College.

“The Speech and Debate Club is not just about the competitions,” Monroe wrote. “We have made friends with kids in Fresno that we still keep in contact with and wait to see at tournaments. Overall, it’s a really great community to be a part of.”

Monroe’s experience with the Speech and Debate Club has been valuable. “We learn effective research skills and obviously fabulous speaking skills,” Monroe wrote. Also, our club is really laid back and personal so it’s easy to get over the butterflies that come with speaking in front of people.”