Senior Essay 6

What comes to mind when a kid says they do speech and debate? People say that speech and debate kids are just a bunch of yappers, but really, it is so much more than just talking, it’s my passion. My story will be told in the form of an original oratory, this isn’t just any original oratory, this is my love for speech and debate. Now at the end of my freshman year, my teacher recommended that I take “Competitive Drama”, (also known as speech/debate class). I was hesitant at first, but decided that I needed to be challenged and wanted to take a first step into getting out of my shell. When I was introduced to all the events for speech and debate, I first chose poetry. I chose poetry that signifies who I am and what I’ve experienced. I chose a Poetry called “A Touch of Sexual Assault.” This story first sparked up and when I first started reading and acting it out, I cried. It felt so personal to me because it has happened to me before, I felt this as a way for me to cope, as a way to escape from what happened in the past. When I first went to a tournament at Staley, I was insanely nervous. I was wearing a long, brown, floral print given from my aunt, with a white shirt with a top. I walked into the first round of poetry, which began my journey as a person, the woman I am today. This moment is special because I placed 5th out of 20 competitors and in my FIRST tournament. I then started doing more events and I felt happy every time I performed for people. Fast forward to early 2024, I remember my coach asked if I wanted to try and qualify for National Catholic Forensics League (NCFL) Nationals, I said “yes of course”! Then, in March of 2024, I remember he pulled me out of class, he told me I qualified for NCFL in duo-acting. Me and my best friend, Sahory, started to work hard on memorizing our duo-acting to take to nationals. It was a memoir of a country singer named Patsy Cline and I played as Patsy and also played as her best friend. NCFL came by and we were insanely nervous for it, while we were competing we kept losing our lines and place. I felt so embarrassed and wanted to quit, but something inside of me tells me that I shouldn’t end my journey here. During the summer, I was working on a new topic for my POI, I needed something that brings ME out. And then I finally chose a topic. My topic was the experience of being a second generation immigrant. I researched like crazy for things to piece into my story and experience. Fast forward to when school started, I was still working on my POI and pieced it together. I took it to compete for the first time, and didn’t break into finals. The second time I competed with my piece, I broke into finals! But during my finals round I froze and didn’t know what to do. I ran out the room and told the judges I was done and cried in the bathroom for an hour. I felt embarrassed, hopeless, angry, and most of all guilty. I didn’t even want to go on stage and take my medal. But my coach gave me the most important advice I’d ever heard, he said “You have so many chances to take this POI and fix it. You worked so hard and had so much confidence to compete, don’t give up.” That’s what I needed to hear. So I got the courage to go and take my 6th place medal regardless of what happened. This was the most important life lesson because it taught me about passion. Passion will have ups and downs even when you work so hard and even when times get so tough. This gave me the drive and confidence to keep doing what I love to do. Speech and debate has shaped me into the person I am because I am taught to not give up the thing I love most. I want to one day see myself qualifying to NSDA nationals and be able to take my POI that has a story, and perform it to people. Speech and debate taught me self discipline and hard work through every round, everytime I debate, and use my voice.