Many students rush to the award ceremony to see who the next state champions will be. photo by Evelyn Jackson
Students involved with the Speech & Debate club at TJ recently went to their first state competition.
The Thomas Jefferson High School Speech and Debate team competed at the state level during their recent competition in Pueblo. For the first time in many years, 8 students qualified to compete in the 4A state tournament. They were able to achieve huge accomplishments for the school and truly show what it means to be a spartan. These students were able to bond with other teammates, experience a more intense type of competition, and really show their all.
The decision to go to the state tournament wasn’t an easy one. There are many factors, requirements, and fundraisers to consider before committing to making the trip. Ultimately, the reason that really pushed the team to go this year was community. TJ Speech and Debate is a small club consisting of around 20 members. As years go by, the incoming freshman class can completely change the model of the club. This year, the officer team consisted of mostly seniors. So the idea of creating memories, bonding with the team, and overall having a good time at state this year was too good to pass up. “We have a really great tight-knit group of seniors that I think wanted to have that experience of one last tournament that would kind of create that bonding experience,” said senior and co-president Skylar Gold.
The past three years the team has been trying to make it to state. There was a lot of fundraising that needed to happen in order for the team to afford the expenses of going to the competition. The majority of the fundraisers occurred at the First Friday celebrations that Thomas Jefferson holds throughout the school year. During First Friday, many different clubs and organizations at the school sell snacks and items to all of the students and staff at TJ. The club participated in all three first Fridays this school year and made around $50-$80 each time. “It was an incredible opportunity to both make money for the club and to introduce more people to speech and debate,” says Gold.
The state competition this year was held at Pueblo Central High School. The speech categories consisted of four preliminary rounds, a semi-final round, then a final round. For debate, there were three preliminary rounds that led to double-octafinal, octafinals, semifinals, quarterfinals, and a final round. The tournament took place over two days and the team ended up with 5 contestants making it past the preliminary rounds. Gold made it to the final round and won 4th place overall in informative speaking. Seniors Marin Herbst and Evelyn Jackson got to the semi-final round. Herbst won 8th place in informative speaking and Jackson got 11th place in Dramatic Interpretation. Additionally, juniors Brooklynn Dent and Victoria Belachew made it to the octafinal round in public forum debate.
The TJ Speech and debate team has had to wait almost four years to go to the state competition. This year, they were able to show up and prove how hard they can work. At the end of this year many seniors on the officer team will be leaving and will be replaced by new seniors. Hopefully, TJ will be able to compete in the state competition and keep the TJ speech and debate legacy alive.
