While many kids’ high school years were filled with parties, my high school experience was different.
I spent my high school experience as part of the speech and debate team.
It was not the nerdy stereotype that Disney Channel or movies like “Candy Jar” on Netflix make it out to be.
It meant spending your weekends at tournaments, wearing suits to school, having notebooks filled with notes on different rounds and devoting hours to practice.
For years, that was what my weeks look like. And I realize there are thousands of people out there who shared the same experience.
Looking back on my experience as a speech and debate kid, I now realize how it influenced various aspects of my life.
So, if you were a speech and debate kid, this article is for you.
- How to build a good work ethic
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Speech and debate is a lot of work. There are countless tournaments, practices and meetings. So, learning how to balance it all takes a while.
There were points during my time in speech and debate when it felt like I was working a full-time job on top of being a student and doing other activities.
So, with all of that being said, speech and debate taught me how to get work done quickly and efficiently.
- When enough is enough
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With the nature of speech and debate requiring a lot of time and energy, this activity taught me to say “no.”
There is always a tournament to participate in and extra practice to do, so it can get overwhelming fast.
It mirrored the experience of college: there is always something more to do.
So, when I got to college, it was easier to know when enough is enough and how to avoid overcommitting myself.
- competition requires balance
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Speech and debate is a competitive activity.
You are constantly trying to “outsmart” other kids your age.
Sometimes you can even compete against other kids on your team.
So, to constantly be in a competitive environment, it can get to you.
Exiting that mindset after high school can be hard. But it teaches you how to balance competition in life.
In life, there will always be another person “to compete with.” Whether there is a promotion at work or friends get catty, competition will always exist in life.
Speech and debate taught me how competition should not spill over onto other parts of your life.
- Communication is key
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A great benefit from being in speech and debate is learning how to communicate.
My main event was extemporaneous speaking, so I had to create a seven-minute speech in 30 minutes.
I had to learn how to effectively showcase my ideas and verbalize them to someone who may not know what I was talking about.
It did not matter what format it was, but through debate I learned how to vocalize my thoughts, dissect others’ words and be aware of communication techniques.
As communication is something that everyone needs to know and be good at to thrive in a professional environment, it is a skill that I developed in speech and debate and that I will carry throughout my life.
- Have expectations for yourself
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Through all of these aspects, speech and debate taught me how to have high expectations for myself.
I learned to always try my hardest, push myself and expect the most.
It is natural to doubt yourself and just fail sometimes. There were countless rounds where I would get dead last or completely mess up.
But if you know that you are the best person you can be you will feel better and become more confident.
Speech and debate consumed almost the entirety of my high school experience.
There were plenty of amazing times and memories. But there were also plenty of terrible things that happened while in speech and debate.
But I know at the end of the day that speech and debate taught me so many valuable lessons and skills, and I will always carry that experience with me.