The Speech and Debate team has experienced a lot of change and success this debate season. Freshman Michael Haybron is a novice public forum debater and extemporaneous speaker.

“There are a lot of new novices,” Haybron said, “a lot of them are freshmen but there are also some sophomores and juniors.” 

With many novices joining the team, the subject of education and adjustment has been a big part of the season. Senior Kaitlyn Thornton is a varsity member of the team and independent coordinator of events.

“The number one thing we do is try to explain everything,” Thornton said. “You help make them feel welcome by just interacting with them casually.”

To help members of the team know what is going on, a new way of setting up practices have been incorporated in the 2019-2020 season. 

“By having a debate newsletter,” Thornton said, “people will have a general idea of what coordinators are going to be teaching for that day”.

Informing the members of the team and teaching the novices has been greatly beneficial. Because of this, the team has experienced success during the season. 

“My partner and I did very well on our debate at the last tournament we went to,” Haybron said, “and Ladue is generally doing well compared to other teams.”

The next tournament is scheduled for Jan. 24-25 and is located in Jefferson City.

“My partner and I are going to be doing some practice rounds of debate,” Haybron said, “so that we can be ready for Jeff city.”

The Jefferson city tournament is an overnight trip and is one of the biggest tournaments of the year. 

“Just everything about it, it’s so much fun,” Thornton said, “and you get to travel somewhere with your group of friends.”

Having fun and working hard is part of the debate team’s core values. By doing this, the team has been able to achieve much success during the season.

“In the future, I really hope that the team gets a lot of successful debaters,” Thornton said, “and speech event people in districts and or state.”