Lucy Kalkowski & Coventry Thompson

Many people can tell you about soccer, softball, volleyball or basketball, but not many can explain what happens during speech and debate competitions. All of these activities fall under the scope of the Nebraska School Activities Association, more commonly known as the NSAA. 

This year, Marian recognized students who participated in speech and debate during the Winter Sports Pep Rally, shining a new light on the two teams. Not only that, but new banners hang on the cafeteria walls, awaiting for success as these teams start to receive more attention. 

The moment to show the hard work and dedication both teams had put throughout the school year lands in late March, the time when State rolls around. As for debate, the State tournament is a two day commitment on March 22 and 23 of this year. The team left school early on a Friday to drive to Papillion-La Vista, not for the tournament, but to share a bus ride with their debate team to Lincoln Southwest. 

The debate team brought 22 debaters: freshmen Kaylin Petersen, Vandana Santhanam, Vasudha Santhanam, Erin Cramer, Bella Hobbs, Molly McChesney, Marguerite Harr and Saniya Harris-Alcorn; sophomores Izumi Huang Fujiwara, Molly Duncan, Lauren Hicks, Reilly O’Brien, Alena Kehm, Zoey Rumbaugh, Casteria Agbeletey and Nyagai Gatpan; juniors Elizabeth Nguyen, Lucy Kalkowski, Coventry Thompson, Caroline McDonald, Emma Kaczmarek and Abigail McGuire.

Hicks, a policy debater competing at State Debate, said, “I was really nervous going into the state and was prepping the whole night before. Once the round actually started, everything calmed down, and I was able to work hard.” This was her first year of debate and first time attending state. 

“I felt very proud to represent Marian. We are such a small school when it comes to debate, especially compared to Millard North or Lincoln Southeast. Those schools have a ton of students in each event and a lot of coaches to help write their cases… Winning against these schools makes you feel really good and proud of what school is assigned to you,” Hicks said. 

State Debate presents a unique opportunity for smaller teams like Marian, as it has a maximum number of debaters a school can send for each event. This allows for every school to have equal playing ground to win and contribute to their school’s rank, whereas during normal tournaments smaller teams have less people able to compete and contribute.

Hicks placed 8th in policy, competing against debaters who have more years of experience in debate. “I am so glad that I joined. Debate has taught me how to be more confident and speak up for myself…Debate is such a great activity if you want to grow as a person and learn new things,” Hicks said. 

The debate team has a successful year, growing in size and having several people rank at every tournament including state. Kalkowski and Nguyen made finals in congressional debate, with Nguyen ranking fifth overall. McDonald was a quarter finalist and ninth place speaker in Lincoln Douglas. Nguyen’s season is still not over as she prepares to tackle nationals in the summer, qualifying earlier in the year during districts.

On March 20, a few days before state debate, State Speech qualifier sophomore Hannah Taylor arrived at Kearney High School to perform her event, dramatic interpretation. “In interpretation, what really matters when preparing is being able to pull someone into the scene through vocal, facial, and body expression,” Taylor said.

Taylor’s event requires more than showing up at a tournament and competing. It is both an oratory skill that is continually worked on and refined throughout the season, just like soccer footwork or 3-point accuracy in basketball, and a script that requires edits. “Preparing for state was just a lot of running through my script over and over, slightly tweaking and changing inflections and actions to give the piece more nuance and depth,” said Taylor.

After arriving early in the morning, Taylor stayed at Kearney for several hours during the competition and received fourth and third in her rounds. “A highlight from state speech was definitely seeing my speech friends and meeting new people! I love the community that speech fosters and contribute a lot of my speaking skills to it, not just academically but also socially,” Taylor said.

Although Marian speech did not rank at state, the future is bright for those interested in the team. “I see lots of growth and exciting things for future Marian speech! This year was kind of warm up because we got a new coach and are still adjusting, but next year lots of team bonding, events, speech meets, and wins are in store,” Taylor said.

Although unlike other NSAA activities, speech and debate are growing and bringing success to Marian. Next year, tune in to the intercom during speech and debate season and you can hear for yourself of the success of both of these teams.