The Poplar Bluff High School Speech and Debate team recently proved why they will be a group to watch leading up to the district competition in March.
In the first debate of the 2018-19 school year, Poplar Bluff took second place overall at the Drama, Speech and Debate Competition hosted by Dexter High School on Dec. 6 against 14 other schools.
In addition, the debate team of Jackson Winters and Brett Keele took first place in the competition edging out fellow debate team members Geneva Taylor and Caroline Dill by only one point.
"With the boys beating the girls by one point it may have sparked something," Speech and Debate Advisor Carlie Dillinger said. "It was interesting to see their facial expressions when the results were announced."
Winters admits seeing all the trophies and plaques in the Middle School theater from previous speech and debate teams adds a little pressure.
"Former Speaker of the House Todd Richardson has a debate plaque there," Winters said. "Those are big shoes to fill and you feel a little pressure from that, but for the most part I think we are doing our job to fill those shoes and make our own mark."
Dillinger said she was in the tabulation room before the results of the competition were announced. After noticing her school code next to first and second places, Dillinger knew her students placed.
"That's pretty awesome," she said following the results.
In only his second time competing, junior Michael Joseph took first place in the speech event of humorous interpretation.
Joseph was required to pick a selection from a play and act out all the characters within his eight to 10 minute time limit.
When preparing for a competition, the Speech and Debate team prep for months right up until the early morning hours before to ensure the most current topics.
"Jackson and I stayed up until 3 a.m. the night before prepping for our debate," Keele said.
Debate topics are posted two months ahead of competitions on the state website to allow teams time to prepare.
"You build a case," Dillinger said. "You have to build a negative case and an affirmative case because you're not sure which one you will have to debate until you get to the competition."
She added the teams pull a lot of current news and build a case off logical facts.
"I love how speech and debate gives you a voice on all these current events and topics that are going on," she said. "It's nice to be able to hear younger people give their opinion and express how they feel about it."
Other members are also stepping up in their respected areas during competitions to allow the Poplar Bluff Speech and Debate team to shine.
Eva Bedell has taken her oratory skills to the finals by delivering a persuasive and informative speech.
"You have to try to persuade the audience to agree with what you are talking about based on facts and opinions," she said. "It has to be 10 minutes long and memorized."
Trey Montgomery has also explored radio speaking.
News delivered during the radio speaking competition must be within the last 24 hours, so Montgomery has to wait until the day before to prepare for his event.
"We are judged on news pieces, how it's put together and the delivery," he said.
With the district competition quickly approaching in March, the Speech and Debate team is looking at its next tournament in Scott City next month for more practice.
"A lot of schools don't offer debate so we are trying to figure out what to do before districts to get more practice," Dillinger said.
While the team is still growing, Dillinger added she relies a lot on her team to get the word out to other students and teachers about all speech and debate offers.
"There is not a lot of pressure," Bedell said about being a member of speech and debate. "It's really relaxed going into competition. You don't feel pressure like some do when joining sports because we are all on different levels."
Taylor added judges for competitions are members of the community.
"It's not these trained professionals who are intimidating and scary," she said.
While at competitions, Taylor said the judges have been very nice and even struck up conversations with the students outside of tournament topics.
"There is a lot of opportunity for us to put our own spin on (speech and debate)," Winters added during competitions. "There are rules, but for the most part I think this is one of the most expressive things you can do in high school."