Competitive Speech and Debate

Member of National Speech and Debate Association - NSDA

Mrs. Linda Outhier

laouthier@enidk12.org

Competitive Speech and Debate is a program that offers students the opportunity to practice critical thinking skills, acting, and public speaking across the state competing against other high school students. It is a life-changing activity that has rewards both at the competition level and on a personal level. Students compete at the qualifying , regional, state, and national levels. Enid High School has a long and proud tradition.

●      We attend about 7 qualifying tournaments a year at high schools in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa area.

●        If a student places 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at a qualifying tournament he is qualified for the Regional Tournament in March in the Oklahoma City or Tulsa area.

●       The top 8-10 places from the Regional Tournament qualify to  the State Tournament, the highest level of competitive speech for high school students in Oklahoma.

●       Speech Tournaments host 6A schools (like Enid High School in Drama/Speech/Debate events).

o   For the drama events, there are normally three levels of speech competition, called “rounds”: Preliminaries, Semi-Finals, and Finals. (Drama/Speech Students attend the tournament on Saturday only unless qualifying for  Regionals or State)

o   For the debate events, a debater is randomly matched against another debater from a different school to argue the Affirmative side of a case twice and the Negative side of a case twice.  All of these preliminary rounds happen on Friday night (debaters always spend the night in a hotel).  A debater advances depending on how many rounds he wins.

·         In Competitive Speech students will find material to prepare and take to contest.  There are ten events from which a student can choose to participate, including but not limited to Prose, Duets, Interps, and Orations

·         In Debate students will research and write cases in class for a pre-determined topic.  Some evidence is supplied, but debaters are encouraged to find reliable sources of evidence on their own.  All debaters will learn both Lincoln-Douglas style of debating and Public Forum style of debating.

Tournaments are fun and when students work they usually become highlights of their high school career.  Our program is well-funded by our district so out of pocket expenses are usually associated with snacks at concession stands for tournaments..  All of this is explained in a comprehensive handbook sent home the first week of school.