The CA Speech and Debate Society

Does a public health emergency justify limiting civil liberties? Should the United States guarantee universal child care? Should voting be compulsory in the United States?

You may have a strongly held “yes or no” opinion on all those questions, with plenty of evidence to back up your position. But could you argue the opposite side with equally convincing reasoning and passion? You could if you were Senior Clare Milligan, who has experience doing Lincoln-Douglas debate, just one of the many categories of competition available to students who participate in the National Speech and Debate Association. Starting last year, and continuing with increased participation this year, Colorado Academy’s Speech and Debate Society encourages students who want to take their performance and critical thinking skills to a new level in a new arena. Last year, when CA first formed a Speech and Debate Club, Milligan, who is a CoLeader of the Society, decided to dip her toe into one-on-one Lincoln-Douglas debate. To her surprise, she qualified for the Colorado state finals. She was even more shocked when she heard that she was headed to the National Tournament, which happened over Zoom because of COVID-19 restrictions.

“Competing was such a terrific learning experience,” Milligan says. “Everyone was more experienced than I was, but I learned from them as I competed, and then I adapted.” Senior Sarah Preston, who also serves as a Co-Leader of the Society, originally thought she would try debate last year—that was, until she discovered that competing in speech allowed her to create social change through her speeches. “In my first speech, I wrote about my journey with ADHD and the ways that people often overlook people with ADHD because it is something you cannot see,” she says. “I made the point that people with ADHD might just need some extra help and patience rather than being told to adjust and adapt.”

Why a ‘Society?’

Today, Preston and Milligan are leading a group of more than 25 Upper School students in the newly renamed Speech and Debate Society, with faculty sponsors Upper School humanities teacher Dr. Jon Vogels and history teacher Randall Martínez. Vogels also teaches a class in speech and debate. The class and the Society have a new home in a new building—a classroom in the new Leach Center for the Performing Arts— devoted just to speech and debate. The faculty sponsors deliberated (as you might expect) about what to call the group and decided to move from being labeled a “Club” to being named a “Society” because they see speech and debate as more than a series of local, state, and national competitions. “We decided that “Society” was a name that served as an umbrella under which we could have a class, a club, competitions, and community outreach doing public service,” Vogels says. “We will be involved with groups such as the Urban Debate League, Horizons at CA, and we will also be partnering with California-Polytechnic State University to host Spanish language debates to help students develop Spanishlanguage advocacy skills.” Vogels has spent the past year making connections to the larger debate community in Colorado. He specializes in coaching students in speech. “Dr. Vogels taught me that delivering a speech is more of a performance,” Preston says. “It was a revelation to see that how I moved around and used my hands was important. You’re not just reading a speech!” How debate opens doors

Vogels says that CA was “fortunate” to find in Randall Martínez both an excellent history teacher and someone with 20 years of experience coaching debate at the middle school, high school, and college levels. Martínez says that as a high school student (“I was a quiet bookworm, and after discovering debate, I haven’t shut up since.”) and then as a coach, debate was his “gateway to the world.” “Debate really opened doors for me,” he says. “I’ve coached and competed around the world, and that’s why I want CA students to think about having global conversations—from Panama to Prague.” He praises the CA students for the way they are embracing speech and debate. “I’ve never seen students take to an activity so effortlessly,” he says. “They come in with a positive attitude, and they have already developed a world view.” Martínez could be talking about Junior Owen Tilman, who first tried out LincolnDouglas debating last year. To be clear, in a competition Tilman might be assigned to argue the affirmative in one round—and then in the next round of competition be asked to argue in the opposing viewpoint. “I fell in love with the format,” Tilman says. “It literally forces you to acknowledge merit in both sides of any given issue, which appears to have lost its way in the current political discourse. Inevitably, I find myself revising my political beliefs after a season of Lincoln-Douglas.” The purpose of speech and debate

Vogels believes that experience with

speech and debate pays off in the present and the future in myriad ways, and the students and faculty involved are quick to support that idea. “I have gained so much confidence speaking in front of others. I know how to present in front of a large group. I actually feed off the challenge because I like thinking, ‘I could mess up, but I am not going to.’” Sarah Preston “This has really helped me become a better communicator, and that will manifest itself in any field I choose to go into. Even if a job is STEM-based, you have to be able to communicate why an idea has value.” Clare Milligan “Colleges often have their own version of speech and debate, so students can keep participating in college. And whether it’s politics, law, lobbying, or any occupation where you are expected to do speaking, you will be well prepared coming out of a speech and debate program.” Dr. Jon Vogels “Debating has certainly helped my writing on a philosophical basis, in addition to my argumentation. Similar to the logic required for advanced mathematical concepts, approaching complex topics in the debate setting also demands the same brands of logical and analytical processing. Debate, I feel, also merges my love for performance with my love for academic analysis—which I can say has been the only activity in which I have participated that does so and does so well.” Owen Tilman

“Communication is key to having a successful life. Civil discourse is struggling today, and our students need to be the ones to fix it. We can be ambassadors to civility worldwide.” Randall Martínez n