Graham’s view on speech and debate
Mollie Graham is preparing for Speech and Debate. “It doesn’t really matter what you do but you always get the people skills and the problem solving skills and the independence like learning for yourself and doing it for yourself,” Mollie Graham said. “I want to be a lawyer so debate really helps me on this, but it has you learn the skills no matter what you want to do.”
October 5, 2021
Mollie Graham 11 is on the Speech and Debate team, a club at Lewis-Palmer High School. She got on the Speech and Debate team freshman year, and it has really changed her views on the world itself.
“Debate is where you talk about two sides of a topic that they give to you every few months, and speech is when one or two people are acting where you put a piece together yourself.” Graham said.
Speech and Debate are two opposing sides that everyone can choose that suits them better. For Graham, Debate is the one side that really suited her well.
“I wanted to join the Speech and Debate team in middle school, but I had another commitment at school that was interfering with that, and then I joined the speech and debate team in ninth grade.” Graham said.
The commitment was the homework load from classes. Homework was one thing that interfered with Speech and Debate but having friends made her want to join Speech and Debate.
“I just wanted to join because all of her friends were doing it, but I became really passionate about debate.” Graham said.
Mollie Graham is on the Lincoln and Douglas side on the speech and debate team.
Lincoln Douglas was a side that Mollie wanted to do when she joined the Speech and Debate team in ninth grade, she had two sides to choose from, and Lincoln Douglas became her favorite side.
“Lincoln Douglas is a one on one debate based on morals, and we get a topic and we have to justify our arguments with morals such as safety and utilitarianism.” Graham said.
Mollie didn’t have a favorite Speech and Debate competition at first, but she grew to love it with practice. National Qualifiers, which are her favorite, are a two day competition, for all of the competitors and teams that are competing in Speech and Debate.
“National Qualifiers are pretty fun for me though, because I get to stay over, but all of the other Speech and Debate competitions are just one day.” Graham said.
The sense of community that Mollie has while being on the Speech and Debate team is pretty incredible. This Speech and Debate family has become a team for everyone to remember.
“The entire team gets to spend so much time together, and they get to see each other after school for 14 hours on Saturdays for the whole year,” Graham said. “They have these little stories, they get to talk to each other, and they have become like a big family.”
