A hush falls over the crowd as you step up to the podium. Hundreds of eyes are staring at you….waiting. You take a deep breath, close your eyes, and begin to speak.

This experience of public speaking can be terrifying for some, but members of the debate team thrive on their experiences speaking in front of people.

“Debate is kind of like where obviously you debate, but also it can be speeches like motivational speaking, or improv speaking, or competitive acting as well,” debate team member Mallory Blue said.

The debate team has competitions designed for students to show off their debating skills in these different areas.

“I basically compete against other schools. In my event, I do competitive acting, and I just compete against other schools who do the same event,” Blue said.

Blue and debate team member Tyler Beardall have qualified to compete in the national debate tournament. Both have previously competed nationally, and are excited to compete again.

Blue said, “I’m really excited because this is my second time qualifying! I’m really excited to see all the pieces around the United States, and, I get to go to Dallas, and that is really exciting.”

Mallory will be attending the national tournament June 14th – June 19th in Dallas, Texas.