Speech and Debate primes for qualifying season

Approaching the end of a lengthy season, the Southern Lehigh Speech and Debate team has pushed through a series of highly competitive tournaments, including a series of state qualifiers. Although the team is entering a break, some members are gearing up to deliver their best performances of the year to win bids and qualify for national tournaments.

“It’s about honing in on very specific details in my speech, so I’ve been thinking about the visual aids in my speech and working on specific parts of my speech and enunciation,” junior and team captain Orrin Bossert said.

This season, Bossert and fellow junior and speech captain Wyatt Hartenstine were the only two students from Southern Lehigh to qualify for the Tournament of Champions, a prestigious speech and debate competition held at the University of Kentucky in April. Both qualified by winning two bids in other tournaments. Bossert will compete in Informative Speaking (INF), which focuses on educating and informing an audience. In contrast, Hartenstine will compete in Original Oratory (OO), where students inform or persuade the audience with their own written speeches.

Although Speech and Debate lacks the recognition that other clubs and sports get, they work tirelessly to sharpen their abilities. During the school year, the team travels to full-day Saturday tournaments, where students compete head-to-head in debate events or aim to perfect their public speaking in speech events. Most team members are quick to admit that Speech and Debate requires a tremendous amount of dedication and work.

“Even if you compete once or twice a year, it’s a lot of work to either write a piece or cut up an interpretation or keep up with current events,” Hartenstine said.

Despite the commitment that comes with Speech and Debate, many tournaments are a welcome and exciting experience for the team.

“[The Harvard Invitational Speech and Debate Tournament] is always a highlight for the team. It’s a great trip,” physics teacher and team coach Mr. David Long said. “Out of the 14 kids that went [this year], five won awards.”

For Hartenstine and other team members, Speech and Debate has allowed them to develop both their speaking skills and their confidence.

“The most important lesson I’ve learned [is] how to talk in front of people, whether I know them or don’t,” Hartenstine said. “The amount of people used to make me more or less nervous. But as I’ve competed more, it has slowly just gone away.”

Students interested in Speech and Debate may balk at the idea of public speaking or challenging others’ arguments. However, Mr. Long believes you don’t need to be a social butterfly to succeed and have fun on the team.

“[They] don’t have to be outgoing. But there has to be a bit of strength in their personality,” Mr. Long said. “There are some people who are more introverted on the team, but there is still a presence they can generate.”

About the Contributor

Kishore Annambhotla, Editor-in-Chief

Senior Kishore Annambhotla has dedicated four years to Southern Lehigh High School’s Spotlight newspaper. Three of those years he spent in editorial positions, as Our World and Entertainment editor his sophomore year and editor-in-chief his junior and senior years. He feels these positions have helped him inspire his peers and impact his school for the better. “The clubs I've been a part of have taught me how to engage with the community and work with others,” he said. “I think that the teamwork and collaboration that comes with being part of the Spotlight will be very useful in my future.” As of now, he will be living out the next few years of that future as a student at the University of Pittsburgh, where he will major in Computer Science. Because AP Computer Science A was one of his favorite classes in high school, he is excited to delve deeper into that area of study in college. “I’m not yet sure what I want to do with that diploma, but I know it will take me far,” he said. Regardless, he knows that he plans to live in a small apartment in New York City, since he appreciates a relaxed lifestyle. “It’s comfortable to keep few possessions and be worldly,” he said. Annambhotla plans to use skills learned from his activities outside of the Spotlight as well. Most notably, he has learned leadership as president of the high school’s National Honors Society this past 2023-2024 school year, a position in which he helped manage the organization’s tutoring program. He also dedicated himself to Scholastic Scrimmage, representing the school in academic competitions requiring a wide range of knowledge. His three years on the school’s tennis team taught him teamwork, and he worked to better his school and community by participating in No Place For Hate and Key Club. But, out of all of these experiences, he feels that his favorite memories were formed through the Spotlight, specifically by collaborating with peers as the club worked to publish its work. “I fondly recall working on the newspaper in the publication lab with the editorial staff,” he said. “It was always a good space to decompress.” Of everything that he himself wrote, Annambhotla is the most proud of an Opinion article he published during his junior year, titled “Antisemitism rhetoric must come to an end.” Written in response to the rise of antisemitic comments on social media and in mass culture, he gave Southern Lehigh students a chance to voice their thoughts on the issue. “This was my favorite article because I felt it was the most socially impactful article I wrote,” he said, “so it carried more meaning for me.” Annambhotla’s advice for current students—a lesson he himself learned through juggling extracurriculars, classes, and leadership positions in each—is to remain focused and ambitious. With that sort of mindset, he feels you can achieve anything. “It’s gonna get challenging along the way,” he said, “but you should always remember what you’re working towards and keep your goals in front of you.”

The Spotlight

The Spotlight

The Spotlight

Speech and Debate primes for qualifying season