By: Irene Ciocirlan
One club at Hershey High School transforms students from regular high schoolers to young professionals.
The Speech and Debate club encourages students to speak and have their voice be heard. Whether it’s through speeches or debates, students will sharpen their public speaking skills. Students will also gain competition experiences, where they can qualify for competitions such as Districts, States, and Nationals. This year’s Speech and Debate club qualified all the way to States.
HHS had its first Community Day on Friday, April 29. The Speech and Debate session was entirely led by members in the club. The session consisted of a mock debate, where prospective students could act as judges and score on a scoring sheet. Senior Colin Topper argued his case against sophomore Avery Wang. The debate was titled, “Public high schools should prioritize increased funding of extracurricular activities over athletic programs”.
Damian Gessel, Speech and Debate club leader and teacher at HHS, hopes that more students will be interested in joining the club after Community Day. Though it has been gaining popularity, it wasn’t always like this. Gessel shared that 5 years ago, when the club started, it was just a few people in a room doing nothing. However, now the club is stronger than it’s ever been.
“We had our first competition 2 years ago and there was a huge shift,” said Gessel. “That’s when the club became less of a club and more of a team.”
This year, some members even qualified for States. Grace Murray, sophomore at HHS, was one of them. She was a semifinalist in Informative Speaking at the Pennsylvania High School Speech State Tournament.
“Not only did my public speaking skills improve, but I’ve also had a lot of fun,” said Murray when talking about her experience. Murray decided to join the club after taking the class and realized she had a talent for public speaking.
Topper, who has been in the club since freshman year, agrees with Murray. “It’s much easier for me to get my points across now,” said Topper. Topper mainly does debates and has seen much improvement in his competitive and arguing skills throughout the years.
Twisha Bhardwaj, a sophomore at HHS, described public speaking as a balance between authenticity and getting your point across. She said that her favorite thing about speech and debate is that it’s nice to see how others portray topics about something they’re passionate about.
Students who are interested in joining should contact Gessel, or come to meetings every Monday after school in room G146.
“Before I joined, I was really shy and nervous to talk in front of people,” said Bhardwaj, “But joining the club made me a better public speaker and I enjoy it a lot.”
