From Ketanji Brown Jackson to Sonia Sotomayor or Oprah Winfrey and even Pope Leo, Speech and Debate is one thing that many of the world’s greatest politicians, activists and public speakers have in common. 

Speech and debate prepares students, particularly those with an interest in public speaking or politics, by teaching them the ability to support their opinions with fact in a calm and rational manner, to speak in front of large crowds without anxiety or hesitation and to impassion hundreds with their rousing arguments. Hickman’s speech and debate team show amazing commitment and dedication to their craft, their skills were shown recently at the Nationals qualifying district tournament.

“We have a bunch of people going to state and nationals this year, which is…a huge goal of ours…and in the final part of second semester, we beat out Rockbridge…we’ve just been doing really good.” Thurlo Peterman said. 

Thurlo is a senior and team captain this year, and has been doing speech and debate all four years of high school. After all of his hard work and time put into the team, the end of the season, for him, is bittersweet. 

“The team’s growing. It’s in great shape for next year when I’m gone, and competitions have been fun, so I definitely feel fulfilled, but at the same time…yes, I’m done with high school, but I’m not done with the team.” Thurlo said.

But this year’s Junior class is also suggesting a successful season next year. Junior Akiva Trachtenberg, who qualified for both state and nationals, was impressed with the overall turn out of the junior participants, and looks forward to their impact in leadership roles. 

“I’d say the junior class…has really shown out this year. [As a team], we had five national qualifiers and seven people going to Nationals, two of them in supplemental events…Of the seven people traveling to Richmond, Virginia [for nationals], six of them are juniors.” Akiva said. 

The junior class was also the first to begin growing the team to its impressive size, with another burst of new team members seen with this year’s freshman. 

“My class…was the first really big class, and that was really fun because most of us already knew each other…but it’s been fun having another class that’s been big…because [there are] more people to teach, but also those bonds that you create with freshmen are really special.” Rylee Goodrich said. 

Rylee is a junior this year, and has been doing speech and debate since her freshman year. This year, she qualified to both State and Nationalsfor the third year in a row.

“Obviously, as you get older, you’re going to do better. But I had a lot more success in speech and a lot more success in debate…for our team, the growth that we’ve seen has really fueled winning.” Rylee said. 

There is still work to be done before Hickman’s speech and debate team take on state and nationals, but these dedicated students believe that they are ready for whatever challenges come next. 

“It’s going to take a lot of work and prep, so we’re not done. But we came at it with a lot of energy, really locked in for it, and it paid off…as long as we continue to put in that work, it will continue to go good.” Thulo said.