Aliso Niguel’s Debate Team unfortunately did not make it very far in this year’s Student Speaker Contest, but still celebrated their amazing work throughout the year.
Ms. Erhard is the Speech and Debate teacher for Aliso Niguel High School. Specially chosen students from her class participated in this year’s competition.
During this year’s Student Speaker Contest, Aliso’s Debate team was unable to pass the first “Club” round, losing to Tesoro High School.
Despite the tough and early loss, Ms. Erhard said that the students that went, “did very well.”
Last year, Aliso Niguel High School’s Debate Team, also led by Ms. Erhard, was able to make it all the way to the fourth, or “District,” round.
The Debate Team competes in a yearly competition run by California Lion’s Club. Students from different high schools across the state have the chance to compete against one another for prize money that go towards scholarships.
This year, the California Lion’s Club released the prompt that students would have to answer, memorize and recite, early in the school year. This gave Ms. Erhard and the students in her Speech and Debate class months to prepare.
The prompt was: “Artificial Intelligence: Friend or Foe?”
The guidelines for the speeches are very rigorous. Students have to compete with one another, as well as with the clock. All answers to the prompt must be said between five and ten minutes, any time over or under results in disqualification.
Students are not allowed access to any time-telling devices; therefore, competitors must rely solely on their ability to properly recite their speech at a proper pace in order to qualify for the competition.
After this year’s winter break, Ms. Erhard called all of her students for her Speech and Debate class into a Wolverine+ to perform their speeches addressing this year’s prompt. Ms. Erhard was evaluating the quality of speech, amount memorized and proper pacing of the speaker.
From all the performances, she picked the two strongest students to represent the school, creating this year’s Debate Team.
Sanvi Shah (12) was one of the members of this year’s Debate Team. She said “I felt good about it [competition], I definitely realized there were some areas I could improve on in the future.”
The main draw of the competition is the reward for winning. Students have the ability to compete for scholarship money, beginning in the first round and growing as the competition continues. First round winners are awarded $100, and those who win the entire competition bring home the grand prize of $6,000.
In competing, students not only increase their public speaking skills, but also their ability to fund their higher education.
This year was Ms. Erhard’s second year in charge of the Debate Team as well as the teacher of the Speech and Debate class. In years before her, Mrs. Greely had her position.
Aliso Niguel High School and Tesoro High School are the only schools in the Capistrano Unified School District that participated this year. Due to this limited participation, only two students were able to attend this year’s competition from ANHS.
For next year’s Debate Team, Ms. Erhard plans on recruiting members of her Speech and Debate Class first, but also is open to including outside students who are interested, as long as their answer to the prompt and ability to orate is the best.
While the Debate Team was not able to make it far in this year’s Student Speaker Contest, their hard work and dedication has made them better public speakers.
