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Speech and Debate Season Opens with Scrimmage at Hanover High School

Sonya Sotomayor, Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt, Weird Al Yankovic, and Zac Efron. What do these notable people all have in common? They joined their high school speech and debate teams! And just like those notable personalities, eighteen intrepid TA students have joined TA’s speech and debate team for our second season. 

The high school competes in a form of debate called Public Forum, a highly structured form of debate which pits teams of two against each other on topics pulled from the headlines in front of a citizen judge. November’s topic is a timely and tough one: The United States should substantially reduce its military support of Taiwan.

This past Saturday Hanover High School hosted a novice scrimmage– a tournament just for students with less than a year’s worth of experience. And they learned a lot that they can apply this upcoming season. Facing competitors from Burr & Burton Academy and Hanover High School, our debaters Alice Stirling ‘26, Anna Dixon ‘25, Liam Murphy ‘25, and Harper Grant ‘28  had a strong showing against their competitors in two nerve-wracking rounds.

Although there were judges, the novice scrimmage is designed to be a supportive toe-dip into debate and there were no wins or losses. Returning debater and team captain, Hardy Payson ‘25, served as a student judge and offered supportive feedback to the novice members.

Speech and debate are different but complementary events. Speech emphasizes communication skills, while debate emphasizes logic and reason. We had two middle schoolers compete in three speech events on Saturday along with students from Lebanon Middle School.

Emmeline Saint-Fleur and Galya Siegel-Bromberg participated in Poetry, performing their own original poems; Oratory, delivering original and persuasive speeches; and Impromptu, drawing topics out of a hat and taking one minute to prepare a three-minute speech. These two did a fantastic job thinking quickly and creatively. Amazing!

Our next high school debate meet is on November 16th at Hanover High School, and TA is hosting a middle and high school debate tournament on December 7th. 

Returning debate team members: 
Maddie Piecuch, Stone Riegler, Omi Malin, Wendell Durham, Daniel Mann, Brady Sloop, Hardy Payson

New members: 
Meredith Sloop, Galya Siegel-Bromberg, Emmeline Saint-Fleur, Ruby Cushman, Daniel Lloyd, Alice Stirling, Ethan Roy, Kit Payson, Liam Murphy, Harper Grant, Anna Dixon

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