The Prosper Speech and Debate club is an organization that consists of debate and oral interpretation.

Freshman through seniors debate throughout the year in four types of events: policy, Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Congressional debate on three circuits- local, Texas Forensics Association, and UIL. 

“We’ve been doing great,” debate coach Seth Phillips said. “We have already had several debaters qualify for TFA state and junior Zane Smith has also qualified for UIL state in congressional debate.”

Many students are seeking a bid to go on one of the most exclusive tournaments of the year, the Tournament of Champions. It is an invite-only meet and Prosper has not been invited, yet.

“We want to grow big enough for a TOC bid,” Phillips said. “That’s a pretty rare thing and I’d like it to be more common.”

Students can join through enrolling in Debate 1, Currently there are around 60 people enrolled in the class. For those who are interested in theatre, Mr. Stephens teaches Oral Interpretation, who competes along with the debate team at various tournaments through the year.

“I want to help students get ready,” Phillips said. “I try to model what happens at tournaments in class to teach to the tournaments

The debate team meets every week on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays until 5 p.m. for peer mentoring.

“We have event captains who are responsible for each event,” said Phillips. “They help to make sure interested students are able to get involved and do some practice.”

Good Luck to the debate team as they go to University of Texas at Austin for a tournament Dec. 1!