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Speech and Debate Team members place at competitions

By: Mallory Bucell
Staff Writer

This is the second year for General McLane's Speech and Debate Team. The team is off to a great start this seasion, with two competitions behind them and members placing at each of them. The team has grown this season, and hopes to continue expanding its membership.

Speech and debate is known as Forensics. According to an informational sheet given by the National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL), forensics is defined as "the challenge of competitive speaking." During a competition, participants are placed in rooms with several others competing in a specific category. They are ranked by a judge in that room, and later given an overall placement based on the scores from all the rooms in that category. Tournaments are usuallly divided into two rounds.

Team members compete in the categories of debate, Student Congress, and speech. There are several sub-categories within each division. The differences between sub-categories range from team versus individual events, or certain types of speech or debate, For example, a reading of a play, versus the reading of poetry, or debate of values with a changing topic rather than a debate on one topic for the entire season. The Speech category includes the Original Oratory, Original Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Drama, and Extemporaneous speaking. Debate is divided into Licoln-Douglass or Team Debate.

The team has changed since its inception last year. It has grown to 16 members this year, and also has several interested students. "We now have debaters, which we didn't have before," says English teacher and coach Daniel Mennow. He continues to say that this adds a new dimension to the team, and that the combination of competition in all areas is important. The General McLane team is a member of the NCFL, which encompasses most of Erie and Crawford counties.

Like any sport, preparing for competition takes practice and preparation. "We work hard, but we have fun, too," commented senior Tristan Green.

There are several reasons for the continuation of a speech and debate team at GM. "It's great if you're looking to improve speaking skills," says retuning member, junior Zack Panitzke. "It's a nice academic sport," says Mennow. "It allows you to compete intellectually," he adds, "and it also looks good on college applications, resumes, and can also aid in earning scholarships."

The speech and debate team practices Wednesdays after school in room 308. Mennow encourages anyone interested to come in and check it out.