Eagle County high schoolers win big at state speech and debate championships

At the end of January, high school students from across the state competed in the annual Colorado Speech and Debate Festival Tournament. Across 14 categories, students from Battle Mountain and Eagle Valley Schools took home seven place first-place wins, and a number of other second- through sixth-place awards.

These wins are just the most recent in a long-standing tradition of the local high schools winning big at the state tournament. Even still, it was a significant year for both schools.

Diane Wagener, an English teacher at Battle Mountain High School, has taught speech and debate for 25 years, the past 11 of which were as the head coach at Battle Mountain. Sophie O’Carroll, also an English teacher at the school, has been coaching the team for the past three years.

Responding jointly to an email from the Vail Daily, Wagener and O’Carroll wrote that this is the most individual titles Battle Mountain has won, taking home five state titles this year, two of which were for teams of two. And even though this wasn’t Eagle Valley’s most banner year, the school still took home two state titles, one of which was for a team of two.

Jordan Wolfe, an English teacher who joined the Eagle Valley team as its assistant coach this season, said that while he’s coached state title winners on previous teams, “the percentage of our team that made it to the semi-finals and finals is staggering in comparison to previous teams.”

Support Local Journalism

Donate

Both schools also had students take home a number of other second- through sixth-place awards across the categories. There was only one category, out of 14, at the tournament in which the schools didn’t place.

“Between the two teams, we have always been a strong force at State,” Wagener and O’Carroll wrote. “We joke about being ‘Battle Valley’ but the other schools know it’s not a joke.”

While having a good reputation doesn’t hurt, Eagle Valley’s head coach Katie Uhnavy said that winning comes down to stamina, grit and a positive mindset. Uhnavy, who is also an English teacher, has been coaching the team for the past nine years. To this list, the Battle Mountain coaches added talent and determination as requirements for taking home wins. Wolfe added dedication, rigorous practice, trust and belief in themselves in their teammates around them.

“These kids compete in round after round in a two-day competition,” Uhnavy said.

“They have to go into every round with the same amount of drive and energy as the first round, which isn’t easy.”

All kinds of speech and debate

For those unfamiliar with the world of speech and debate, it involves a lot more than one might think.

“It’s not just about arguing,” said Piper Scherr, a senior at Battle Mountain High School. “Although if you like arguing, you can certainly do that.”

Scherr herself competes in a category called Poetry Interpretation. Scherr has participated in four years of speech and debate at the school and this year was named the state champ the category.

“For this event, you pick a theme and find a poem or combine poems into a single cohesive piece. Then, you perform it,” Scherr said. “Being able to use poems, whether they’re old favorites or new finds, to tell a story is super cool.”

In recommending other students to join their school’s speech and debate team, Scherr said that, “If you have an opinion about anything, Speech and Debate is for you. Consider getting a little out of your comfort zone, because, speaking from personal experience, it will become one of the most important parts of your life.”

Other categories include, as one might expect, preparing a speech. Impromptu Speaking and Extemporaneous Speaking, both of which require students to prepare a speech at the competition five and thirty minutes, respectively, after receiving them. Lucy Anderson, a Battle Mountain senior, placed first in impromptu and second in extemporaneous this year.

“I like the spontaneity of it, how it’s something new and different every speech, which makes every competition very interesting. I also like the creativity of it, I can take prompts pretty much anywhere I want,” Anderson said.

Ryan Long, a senior at Battle Mountain who joined the team this year, placed first in Informative Speaking. This category requires preparing a 10-minute speech to inform the audience on a topic, with visual aids. Long said he loves the “dramatic nature” of this category.

“I was able to choose something that I was interested in and develop it into something I could be proud of,” he said. “With my piece specifically, I covered criminal psychology and behavior and my prop stood out. Most info visual aids are poster boards, mine was a big bloody rock so I always loved seeing the audience’s reaction.”

And like Scherr said, some categories do include arguing, or debate. Eagle Valley students Justin Vargas and Sierra Hill won a state title in public forum debate, which is a two-on-two debate with an emphasis on research and evidence. Eagle Valley Junior Sean Asselin competed in Lincoln Douglas Debate and Congress, which are a 1-on-1 prepared debate and mock congress, respectively.

“In regards to LD, I love the very competitive atmosphere of the debate; Just the tension that it creates and trying to prove to a judge why they should believe you over your opponents,” Asselin said. “Congress is a great event because of the sheer amount of stuff that we talk about. It is a much more friendly and inviting atmosphere.”

Other categories at the competition include Creative Story Telling, Humorous Interpretation, Original Oratory, Informative Speaking and more.

Life skills

Regardless of the category, speech and debate provides a unique opportunity for students to gain valuable, real-world experiences. Many are what you would expect like public speaking and writing skills. However, some are less tangible.

“Over the course of these four years, I’ve also gained confidence, leadership ability, and empathy. I’ve learned what it means to really be a part of a community. Not just existing within it, but participating and trying to give as much as I’ve been given,” Scherr said.

For Long, just in the year he’s learned patience and how to deal with pressure.

“We were united in the suffering and it was pretty special,” he said. “This translates really well into my high school academic life as well. Beyond just giving presentations in front of the class, I’ve gotten better at utilizing the community around me to mitigate the everyday stress that accompanies high school life.”

Asselin’s favorite thing about the team is also the biggest thing he’s gained: finding his voice.

“Debate has allowed me to gather tools to speak my opinion in a way that is both respectful and powerful,” he said.

Plus, in such a divisive world, the ability to see and understand all sides of an argument or debate is extremely precious.

“Being involved in debate, I also know how to participate in a civilized discussion, which is something that I think a lot of people lack knowledge of,” Vargas said.

Coach Wolfe said that this ability to see all sides of an argument “has been lost for some off our society.”

“The need to look at topics, laws and dramatic art from all aspects to best defend and attack those ideas is staggering,” he said, adding that the students’ ability to do so “makes them more well-rounded and intelligent individuals.”

Watching students develop these skills through their years on the team is Uhnavy’s favorite thing about being a coach.

“To provide a space for them to build community and to grow into the very best versions of themselves is what I keep coming back for,” she said. “I get to see them grow up in front of my eyes from kids to young adults. It’s always hard to see them leave but watching them transform into more of who they want to be in four years is pretty freakin’ sweet.”

Creating a community

A big part of winning — and why students return year after year to the teams — is the community.

“As cliché as that sounds, I truly believe that speech kids are some of the most wonderful (and weirdest) people,” Scherr said. “The entire Speech community is accepting, supportive, talented, and funny. To me, the team really is like a family. We bicker, there’s sometimes drama, but at the end of the day, we all have each others’ backs.”

Even outside of their own schools, the state championship in particular allows students to connect with their peers in other communities.

“I have made friends all over the state,” Asselin said. “All of us continue to stay in touch and talk about future topics, and there is a sense of both comradery and competition.”

This sense of community was hard to achieve in the past few years as competitions were forced to be virtual due to COVID-19.

“The speech and debate world took a huge hit the last few years which has been really hard to see,” Uhnavy said. Many teams lost members, but both Eagle Valley and Battle Mountain were able to maintain membership.

“Virtual speech and debate really killed off a lot of speech and debate teams, and for good reason,” Vargas said. “Virtual competitions really weren’t as fun, and had a plethora of issues attached with it.”

Anderson said that while she was still grateful to compete last year, she “really missed the energy of in-person meets and the ability to meet speech people from other schools all over the state.”

But these experiences made coming back to competing, live and in person this year even more exciting for students and coaches.

“Coming back live has revitalized our community,” Uhnavy said. “I love seeing our speech community come together. While we all compete we all are like one big crazy family and it was great to see everyone in person — it makes it so much more fun.”

Vargas said that this return was a “tremendous feeling.”

“In-person debates and being able to actually attend the awards presentation is something that I really missed with virtual speech and debate,” he said.

Plus, it meant that the students got to celebrate their wins all together.

“The love and joy that all members of our team shared was one of the most enjoyable parts of watching these champions,” Wolfe said. “They were there with them in the rooms as they continued to fight for their titles and celebrated as loud as anyone else when their names were announced.”

While the state tournament signaled the end of the regular speech and debate season, there’s more competition ahead of the students. The students will now participate in national qualifying meets in February and March. This will determine if any of the Eagle County students will go on to represent the region in the National Tournament in June in Louisville, Kentucky.

According to the Battle Mountain coaches, Eagle County has had a presence at the National Tournament for the past nine consecutive years. “Our chances of being there again this year are strong,” they wrote.

Still, should any of the students make it to nationals, it requires significant financial commitment.

“As a result of not being able to host live tournaments last year, and having to limit the number of schools that could compete at our home tournaments this year due to COVID concerns, both teams are looking at a huge financial deficit in terms of funding for travel,” wrote the Battle Mountain coaches.

Those interested in donating to the cause, or learning more, can contact either Diane Wagener at diane.wagener@eagleschools.net, or Katie Uhnavy at kathleen.uhnavy@eagleschools.net.