Article by Amanda Hammer
The Norfolk High speech and debate team kicked of their season this month with their home opener. With many interesting speeches the team began practice. They practice hard every day and continue to learn and improve on their speeches. The team consists of 41 students at Norfolk High School (NHS) and all of them continue to compete and work very hard as they do every year.
"This year the biggest competition the kids will face is themselves, because so much of the success in forensics is subjective to every student to battle their own self-doubt or self-imposed limitations." Mrs. Peggy Belt, speech and debate coach, said.
The first meet of the season is the annual Roger Maxwell tournament, a home opener. Mrs. Belt also states that she is very excited to see how team members handle competition. One of her biggest worries is that everything runs smoothly when she hosts an event like this. Her favorite part of the season is witnessing all of the reacting of the new team members after their first competitive round.
One of the things Mrs. Belt looks for in a team is promising potential. The team has several returning state and national competitors who will lead the way for the rookies, including: Daniel Vinson, Ethan Carlson, Skyler Gubbles, Brent Uhing, and returning state champion Tanya Nava.
The biggest meet is held in the spring and is hosted by NHS. Around 600 area speech students attend.
Many speech students enjoy going out every year for many reasons. "I enjoy the bond the speech and debate team has. Whether you're a poet, a dramatic interpreter or a public speaker, everyone comes together as a team and helps each other get better and better throughout the year." Nava said.
The Speech and Debate team will continue to enjoy their season and work hard every day to achieve the goals that have been set. Many students hope to make it to the annual state speech meet, as they proceed to practice harder each day to make their season of speech one of their most memorable yet.
See this article (and others) in the November Panther Newspaper!
