Mallory Blue, a senior that has excelled in speech, debate, and theater every year during high school explains how she started and why she is unique amongst her peers.

“I started doing speech and debate because my school in Nevada cancelled the school musical and of course I was devastated,” Blue said. “The [debate] team came to my english class and they were showing examples talking about speech and debate.”

This influence from her old school’s debate team influenced her to shift her focus from theater to debate.

“I told myself that I have to try this,” Blue said. “That was kind of like my substitute for theater but then I ended up enjoying it so much that I just did it in addition to theater when I moved here.”

Her involvement in debate has allowed her to improve her skills in theater as well.

“It’s so much fun with acting and doing different voices and learning how to not use props and costumes,” Blue said. “And just using yourself to tell a story.”

For those that are unaware of what interpretation is within debate, Mallory gives her explanation.

“It’s basically a ten minute version of a published piece,” Blue said. “You can’t use props, you can’t use costumes, and you are by yourself or with another person. You are basically doing a one or two person show.”

Mallory has received multiple awards on the state and even national level for her performance in speech and debate. She gives some insight as to what got her that far.
“I think what has led me to qualifying for nationals three times, and [receiving] District Student of the Year was a lot of hard work and a lot of grit because there was definitely hard times in my career in speech and debate,” Blue said. “There was definitely financial roadblocks as well with trying to go to nationals or traveling to different tournaments but it was hard work and dedication that got me to where I am now.”