Applause fills the air as senior Sphoorthi Gurram walks toward the podium. Notepad in hand, eyes on the audience, prepared to change opinions with a single speech.
The Prosper High School Debate Team begins their season with their first travel tournament of the year at Princeton High School this Saturday, Sept. 9.
“Princeton marks the start of a season that our team has been putting in effort for,” Debate Team President Mahnoor Waqas said. “With the amount of work we’ve done, it should reflect in our performance at the tournament.”
According to Coach Hannah Rodriguez, With weekends being dedicated to debate, the improvement of the team from last year has been significant.
“Last year, we struggled a lot with the lack of the senior class involvement,” Rodriguez said. “We only had two seniors on the team. This year, we have closer to 10, and you can see the impact of that in tournament settings with the leadership roles that these seniors are taking with the underclassmen.”
Members said they made time review and refresh habits they picked up at the beginning of their training.
“I was introduced to a lot of different events,” junior Trisha Panicker said. “ This experience helped me choose what I would excel at, so that I could carry it on for the rest of my time on the team.”
Panicker mentions that debate not only improves speaking skills, but it also generates new characteristics.
“I think that debate just taught me resilience,” Vice Gurram said. “Even if I lost, I would continue and go to more tournaments and become better.”
According to Rodriguez, along with improved skills and traits comes opportunity. The team began preparing for their far-reaching, multi-state travel tournaments back in the summer.
“We will be traveling to the Harvard tournament in February over President’s Day,” Rodriguez said. “I think it is one of the most prestigious tournaments our community offers for us, and it gives us the opportunity to travel across the country.”
With the season beginning in just one day, the team members have said it’s time to address their goals for this year.
“I’m excited to start off the year at the Princeton tournament with our amazing coach and a super talented team,” Gurram said. “We’ve filled entries in every event that’s offered at the tournament, and I can’t wait to celebrate everyone’s achievements.
