Speech and Debate’s District Success

On Friday, March 4th, the Fair Grove Speech and Debate team went to compete at the district tournament for a potential chance to head to the Speech and Debate state tournament.

The Fair Grove Speech and Debate team is led under the direction of Speech and Debate President Cooper Zumwalt (11) and Speech and Debate Vice President Nico Jenkins (11). Both of these talented individuals have been preparing themselves and their teammates for the very competitive competition.

Going into the district tournament, the Fair Grove Speech and Debate team had had a very successful season thus far. Zumwalt explained, “So far, I have had a very successful season. I have made it to the final round at every tournament I’ve attended. However, I do wish that more schools hosted tournaments this year so that I had more opportunities to compete.”

Being in any leadership position within a club or group can bring a sense of pressure to perform well.  Jenkins, being the Vice President expressed, “As Speech Vice, I can definitely feel the pressure to perform well and win for our team, but my fellow teammates do an amazing job of keeping tournaments relaxed and not letting the pressure go to anyone’s head. I am super grateful for the opportunity to serve as Speech Vice this year and help out the team.”

Zumwalt has been an avid member within the Fair Grove Speech And Debate team since he was in the 7th grade. At the 2021- 2022 school year district tournament, Zumwalt was triple entered with pieces falling into several different divisions. Zumwalt’s three entries fell into the Humorous Interpretation, Duo Interpretation and One Act competition categories. Two of his pieces qualified for the state tournament which are his Duo Interpretation and the One Act Competition.

With the scores in and Zumwalt qualifying for the state tournament, he is now looking for any and every opportunity to better himself and his pieces. “If I were to qualify for state, I would constantly seek out opportunities to find things that we can tweak and improve about our performance. I would then spend many hours making sure everything is perfect for competition,” stated Zumwalt prior to competing.

Now that the 2021-2022 school year district tournament is in the books, the Speech and Debate team have their eyes set on the NSDA tournament. This is their biggest and final tournament of the year .The NSDA tournament will be starting on March 10th and be held until Saturday March 12th.