Ridgeview’s Speech and Debate team has been having some recent success. After the pandemic, the team has slowly been growing and making a name for themselves. Although the team hasn’t brought many trophies this season, they have been focusing on exploring different events to prepare for the state competition which will take place in April of 2024. On November 4, Ridgeview hosted a Speech and Debate competition and each student placed in the top 5.
Head Coach Steven Wolf, has been leading this team since the spring semester of the 2023 school year. Alongside coaching, Wolf was also a part of his high school Speech and Debate which has played a key role in his coaching style. To help calm down his students’ nerves before a competition, Wolf states, “We use an anxiety worksheet that helps. Even if you mess up and embarrass yourself, no one will remember that in the future, and you will be ok. We also have our priorities set – you have to have fun”. Although Wolf makes sure his students practice a lot, he still wants them to know that they’re there to have fun and try their best.
Helping lead the team this year is senior, Ellie Nyguen, who is the President of the club. As President, she says her favorite part is, “Being able to take more of a leadership role and helping host competitions”. With this being her fourth year apart in speech and debate, Nguyen mainly focuses on and participates in speech competitions like dramatic interpretation. When asked about why she chose to join Speech and Debate, Nguyen states, “I wanted to improve my public speaking skills and put myself more out there”.
Simran Kaur has also been a part of the club all four years of high school and she participates in both speech and debate competitions like Impromptu, Original Prose in Poetry, Public Forum, and Congressional Debates. What led Kaur to join the club was her sister, when asked about how she has motivated and inspired her she replied, “She worked hard, and after seeing her practice it motivated me to want to give Speech and Debate a try”. Kaur also feels that Speech and Debate is a great club because she can express her opinions and beliefs at competitions while being her by her judges and peers at these competitions.
This year is junior, Axel Hernandez’s first year on the Speech and Debate team. He was recommended to the club by one of his teachers. When asked about how competitions made him feel he replied, “Seeing people win and also getting a trophy yourself is probably one of the best parts of a competition, as well as hearing the feedback from judges because it is always positive and helpful”. Hernandez participates in various speech competitions to find the right topic for him before state.
The Ridgeview Speech and Debate Club is a part of the National Speech and Debate Association Honors Society. Students who are members of the club earn merit points for their competitions, public speaking services, and community service activities. Wolf states, “I believe in the educational and social power of the activity and want to make it available to our students”.
