Last weekend speech and debate had their first away tournament since before the pandemic, traveling to Melissa High School the night before. While it was a practice tournament and no places were awarded, students won multiple rounds and placed high in their individual event rounds.

Sophomore Emma Cocking traveled and competed with the group at the last minute when another student was sick and unable to make the tournament.

“It was a really good learning experience and I’m glad to have been able to participate in it,” Cocking said. “I know I tried my best and I hope to improve over time.”

Sophomore Nicollette Arabie was excited to place first in her prose rounds and winning all but one of her debate matches with partner Omar Almeida.

“I was upset that as a whole we lost but I was also very excited about getting first place in one of the rounds,” Arabie said. “It was a great experience, and I can’t wait to see how much my skill has changed when the district tournament comes around.”

Debate coach Melonie Menefee has been focusing on the skills the team needs to develop to win and said she is excited that they are able to attend some in-person tournaments again this year.

“I am very proud of the debate team and how much improvement they show with each tournament,” Menefee said. The best part of this weekend was getting to travel with the kids again and actually watch debates and rounds in person instead of over Zoom.”