Arguments, lectures, presentations, motivational speeches, political discussions. All of these
social interactions, where an individual presents an argument or provides a perspective, are
examples of Speech and Debate, an outlet which prior to this year was missing from the Garden
City Community College campus.
Starting this fall, Speech and Debate became available as an extracurricular for students at GCCC. The brand new team, organized by Savannah Sanburg, has already made a promising start, with over a dozen members signed up and ready to begin the year.
Of these members, student leadership has been elected. Positions including President (Veronica McCallum), Vice President (Jordan Humphreys), Secretary (Tina Ortiz), and Social Media Manager (Bryna Bondarenko), have been
elected. Looking forward, members of the team will prepare their own unique events and bring them to tournaments students plan to attend across the country.
Speech and Debate offers a powerful outlet for students interested in anything from acting and performing to leadership and activism. The speech element is incredibly dynamic, allowing for students to create and collaborate when putting together their events. Events available include Poetry, Prose, Program Oral Interpretation (POI), Humorous Interpretation, and Dramatic Interpretation. These events enable students to explore a variety of creative works, and present them with their own unique ideas and perspectives. Essentially, what a student ends up performing can be as creative as they choose. This makes speech an intriguing event for students interested in creating and showing off their unique work and skills as performers.
Debate, on the other hand, tends to attract very logic driven and competitive individuals. They also get to be creative, while going head to head with other teams and discussing issues with careful tactics and strategies. Debate events include Lincoln Douglass Debate (LD), After Dinner Speaking (ADS), Informative Speaking, Persuasive Speaking, and APDA Debate, or American Parliamentary Debate Association Debate.
The addition of these flexible outlets for students is just one more exciting activity on the GCCC campus. All students, regardless of major, can participate in speech and debate, gaining public speaking skills, persuasion skills and a new level of community. This new beginning marks a promising development of extracurriculars and a greater level of opportunity and growth for all students who choose to participate.
