The PHS Speech and Debate team started off a new season with a new opportunity: hosting their first tournament at the high school.
This event has had a huge impact on the Speech and Debate team and brought a great deal of excitement.
“I think PHS hosting a tournament is a very good thing for the team,” debate captain Kyra Morrow said. “It helped Powell Speech and Debate raise a lot of money and functioned as one of our biggest fundraisers.”
Speech and Debate members say it was great for the team, a learning experience, or just something new.
“My favorite part of the tournament was watching how the team really stepped up to run things,” Speech and Debate coach Shelby Moore said. “Part of why the tournament ran so smoothly was that the varsity members of the team went above and beyond to be helpful and responsible.”
The team thought that the tournament was fun and a great hit. A lot of the varsity members enjoyed the feeling of hosting at their school.
“I thought it was so fun,” varsity member Geo Dillworth said. “I think it’s a really good [tournament] and I’ve been wanting to do it since I was a freshman.”
Dillworth felt strongly about this great movement for Powell High School.
“I think it’s a big step forward, we haven’t been able to [host] for a while because…of sports [and other activities] using our… facilities,” varsity member Katarina Reitz said. “I feel like it was a really good thing for our team to experience.”
The tournament seemed to be popular among all the upperclassmen considering they’d been waiting for this, but novices had a less enthusiastic reaction.
“I thought it was pretty boring and ran a bit long,” novice member Daniel Easum said. “My favorite part was playing Clash Royale and Minesweeper with my friend between speeches.”
Although Easum wasn’t all for competing, others saw this as an amazing experience.
“I would consider the tournament a success,” novice member Reina Hansen said. “It was very well organized, it was very fun, and the team captains did a fantastic job showing us where to go and what to do.”
While some students found the tournament’s outcome fun, the team’s planning of the whole tournament elicited mixed emotions.
“I feel like a lot of it got pushed onto [certain captains],” varsity member Tristian Robinson said. “There was a lot of people taking power trips but I think overall it was pretty good.”
While Robinson felt it was a rocky road, her team captain felt it went fairly well despite some unexpected events.
“There weren’t many complications when planning,” Morrow said. “We did have a team cancel on us, as well as a competitor that didn’t show up, but those were things that were fairly easy to resolve.”
With the arrangements her team made, the coach was pleased with what she observed.
“I think the tournament was very successful,” Mrs. Moore said. “We ran on time, had enough judges, and there were no issues with the facilities. The novice competitors also got some really valuable feedback from the judges that will help them to start their first year on the right foot.”
