Seniors Annefloor de Groot and Victoria Justice have been faithful and diligent members of the Panther Debate Team since their freshman year, and their hard work has paid off. De Groot and Justice once again qualified for the Speech and Debate varsity state tournament, making it all four years. 

De Groot and Justice, along with the other qualifying participants, will compete March 20 at the Marist School in Atlanta. They and some of their teammates are already preparing for the competition through rigorous training at home in addition to two one-hour practices a week after school with their two coaches. “I’m not that nervous for the tournament, but I am really excited to see all of my friends from all the other schools,” Justice said. “It’s kind of  bittersweet since this will be my last debate tournament.”

De Groot and Justice were not always the competitive debaters they are today and have come a long way since their freshman year. “They were initially shy and didn’t talk much,” said Brandon Kendall, one of the Speech and Debate coaches. “This year they are the team captains. In terms of seniors, they are the most dedicated and lead every practice.”

The team is comprised of 20 seniors, eight juniors, 15 sophomores and 10 freshmen. Other debaters who have qualified for state are seniors Lexi Nails, Michael Robinson, Maud de Groot  and David Brunskole in addition to Storey Mizzell,  JT Marke and Rocky Xu. The qualifying juniors include Aasim Noorali, Omer Mehovic, Darius Copper, Evan Johnson, Maria Curry and Dhruva Jandhyala. Also going to state are sophomores Aubrey Bennett, Jillian Ruvulcaba, Liam O’Connell, Clare Busey and freshman Marleena Tamminenn.

Copper has also come along way since his first year on the team.  “Seeing [Copper] debate his sophomore year, which was his first year, he wasn’t the most vocal or aggressive,” Kendall said. “He was certainly good, but now in his junior year  he is like a locomotive.”

The coaches said the team’s main goal is to qualify for the varsity state tournament, which is one of the reasons why Kendall and Sean Hickey, the other coach, focus a great deal on the team’s weekly practices. “Practices are designed to provide the students with time to develop skills for the different types of debate and speech events as well as to receive feedback from fellow students and the coaches,” Hickey said. Hickey was on the Mill debate team during his sophomore and junior years.

The team conducts mock debate rounds and uses the computer lab to research and prepare for upcoming competitions.

One reason Justice returned to the debate team for four years  is because she said debate helps her develop a variety of skills.   “Debate has helped me with overall organization for situations that involve a lot of preparation,” Justice said. Debaters can take the skills they acquire and apply them to their activities outside of debate.

As it did with Justice, Debate Team brought out Copper’s focus and determination. “He’s a mild-mannered kind of guy, but in the debate room, he’s like this gladiator,” Kendall said. “He’s just ready to attack.”

What draws members in to this competitive environment is often the competition itself. An underlying commonality among the Panther debaters is often their love to argue.  “I hate being wrong,” Copper said. “The coolest thing about debate is when you get to see the look on someone’s face when you prove them wrong.”

For those who are not familiar with how debate is works, Speech and Debate are the two broad categories that members compete in. Speech includes dramatic interpretation, duo interpretation, extemporaneous speaking, humorous interpretation, impromptu speaking, original oratory, and prose and poetry. Debate includes Public Forum and Lincoln Douglas.  Public Forum is a partnered competition and focuses on foreign and domestic policy. Lincoln Douglas is a one-on-one debate that focuses on logic, philosophy and ethical values.

“Nails and Robinson are two of the best at Lincoln Douglas,” Kendall said. “Justice and Annefloor de Groot and also Mehovic and Brunskole are two of the best partnered groups at Public Forum.”  Mizzell and Boles have won multiple titles for impromptu and extemporaneous speaking. Bennett has also competed well in prose and poetry, winning several tournaments in this category.

The varsity tournament will be the team’s 11th competition this season. Overall, the Speech and Debate Team has walked away from numerous competitions with first-place trophies in Lincoln Douglas, Public Forum debate, impromptu speaking, prose and poetry, and extemporaneous speaking.

The debaters who have qualified are excited for the state tournament. With the season drawing to an end and having met its goal of reaching state, all that is left for the team is to take home a lot of hardware.