The months of January and February are very busy times for the Minarets Speech and Debate team, with a lineup of almost nonstop competitions.
During this time, the team spends most of their time improving their speeches and preparing their topics. Some members also have other activities to account for, such as the new Mock Trial team.
The biggest competition, YFL 6, was on Feb. 5, with the majority of the class competing in the tournament. Senior Jolene Anderson is one of the many students who competed. “I like my
POI, so I was pretty excited. I wasn’t really that nervous about competing either.” She ended up placing first in her event, POI.
The Rotary Club speech competition was also on Feb. 8, with a select few competing in the event. The event is held by the Rotary Club, which is a community service organization filled with people who are dedicated to solving worldwide problems. Teacher and coach Mikendra McCoy has expressed how proud she was of the outcome.
“I am extremely proud that my students decided to step up and speak their hearts in a split second…despite the chaos surrounding the timeline…It lets me know that their poise can be instantaneously put in place and that their precision in the articulation of words…and that they value the art of sharing their beliefs with others,” says McCoy.
Junior Keana Hokama shared her thoughts on how she felt the competition went.
“Based on the amount of preparation we had, we all did extremely well. Even if we forgot parts of our speeches, we had the ability to fill in the blanks, which also came from us knowing our topics well.” She placed second in the event.
Some more competitions that are coming up are the Wolf Pack Tournament, which is from Feb. 12 - 14, and state qualifiers on Feb. 25 - 26, which the team is currently setting their focus on.
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