Speech and debate students hit their closest meet of the year so far, traveling to Centerville and competing in CX, Congress, and individual events. The competition was a success, with everyone in the group coming home with medals. 

Several of the competitors were new, some on their first tourney of the year; team captain Nicollette Arabie, who has been debating all four years of high school, remembers what it felt like to be starting out.  

 “I’ve been doing extemp since I was a freshman, but I didn’t start being successful in it until I was a sophomore,” Arabe said. “Those early tournaments were always a little scary. After a while, though, you start being familiar with what is going to happen.” 

Since that first year, when most of the tournaments were online because of COVID, Nicollette has gone to debate at dozens of tournaments, and one of her favorite things is getting new members of the team comfortable with tournaments. Junior Andi Kilgore was one of those competing for the first time.  

“I have not been involved in speech for very long at all,”  Kilgore said. “I actually started a few weeks ago when I signed up for NSDA and Thespians.” 

Each student has different strengths and competes in different areas. For many of them, that means focusing on different things at different times of the year. Tournaments like Centerville’s give them a chance to ease into their contests if they are new or are in multiple events. 

 “During the fall we try to get started on everything, but we focus on Congress since that UIL contest is in November,” coach Melonie Menefee said. “I love tournaments like this one that lets kids participate in multiple areas and try some things for the first time.”