Most people think they know what speech and debate is. A room full of serious kids, big words and arguments that don’t really matter.
For a lot of people, it just sounds boring. Let’s be honest, most students would probably rather stay home and doom scroll instead of doing whatever the “debate kids” are doing.
But that perception is exactly the problem.
Speech and debate isn’t about sounding smart. It’s about thinking fast, thinking clearly and knowing how to respond under pressure. In a way, it’s a mind gym. In debate club you don’t just learn ideas, you train how to use them. These kind of skills don’t stay in the debate room, they follow you everywhere.
One of the first skills speech and date builds is the ability to think quickly. In debate, there is no time to prepare a perfect response. You need to listen, process information and respond quickly. Over time what once felt overwhelming becomes natural, and thinking under pressure becomes second nature.
Rahel Nosrati, a senior and the team captain said ”The team taught me to think quickly… particularly when competing in Impromptu… my abilities to communicate and organize my ideas significantly improved.”
Speech and debate also builds the ability to speak clearly and confidently in front of others.
You are repeatedly put in situations where you have to present your ideas to an audience, usually under pressure. This repetition gets you to develop the skills every leader needs, making what other people find uncomfortable a skill you mastered.
Nosrati said that she “started my high school journey as a very quiet student. The Speech and Debate team has provided a welcoming space to voice my opinions, challenge ideas and improve my speaking abilities.”
On that note, one of the most important skills speech and debate gives you is the ability to understand other people.
In speech and debate you need to listen carefully and truly understand what the speaker is saying in order for you to react. This sharpens your awareness of how people communicate, making you a better listener and leader.
Another key skill speech and debate develops is the ability to advocate for yourself.
When you are constantly required to defend your ideas and respond to challenges under pressure, you are forced to stand behind what you say, support it and communicate it clearly.
Those skills are exactly what you need in order to advocate for yourself and speak up with confidence.
A main theme in speech and debate is pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.
You have to engage with unfamiliar topics, compete, think in new ways and adapt quickly. Over time, this builds the ability to handle uncomfortable situations and live outside of your comfort zone.
Speech and debate is truly not just for nerds, but for everyone. The skills that it develops are not limited to competitions or classrooms; they are used in many fields in life.
For example, if in your future you may want to be an Athlete, entrepreneur, politician, doctor, lawyer, or a boss of some kind, you will need the skills debate gives you.
In Beverly high we have, in my opinion, one of the best speech and debate teams out there. The reason it’s so great is because of the way it operates.
The team coach David Finnigan said that “Beverly Speech and Debate has two basic goals: “Are you happy?” and “Are you learning?”… I want every Team member to succeed but not if they feel pressured or unhappy in their competitive event.”
Further more, Finnigan add that “The Team has the most flexible schedule of any extracurricular activity here,”
The BHHS team members are known to succeed, like Finnigan said “virtually all Beverly Team members get into the college of their choice.”
More than that, Finnigan said that “The Team has sent debaters every year to the State since Covid and before Covid.”
