The Battle Ground High School speech and debate team earned several accolades this year after the program was revived.
The pandemic put an end to the previous speech and debate program at the high school, but the “first year” return of the team has been a success.
“Well as the coach, my favorite part was seeing everyone try something new at every tournament for the first time,” Corinne Altotsky said.
Altotsky said the team provides opportunities for high school students to earn college scholarships. This year, Battle Ground’s team won the small school sweepstakes at Pacific University in Forest Grove. The win secured its graduating seniors a $4,000 scholarship to the university if they choose to apply and get accepted there.
“Speech and debate is a great opportunity to exercise your argumentative skills and writing skills,” team member Marley Wing said. “It requires a lot of research and that has definitely helped me a lot in my classes. It’s definitely helped me with speaking skills and being able to articulate things better.”
Team member Jacob Richins said the program has provided him a chance to make new friendships.
“I, for one, was excited to join just to be in a new social environment, so if you’re thinking about joining the team, I think you should,” Richins said. “It’s a great opportunity to do something new, to make new friends and to throw yourself out there.”
The team grew from two members to 11 by the end of its season
The Washington State Forensics Association created a grant for new teams and new coaches, which Battle Ground qualified for. Altotsky referred to the grant, which they received, as “a jump starter” for the program. The funding paid for the team’s travel and its tournament costs this year.
One of the team’s favorite parts of its season focused on a category of less serious topics known as parley. Team member Elizabeth McAleer said an example from the category would be to debate whether a gorilla could beat a grizzly bear in a fight.
A couple of other favorite topics for the team involved social issues and economics.
“My favorite debate form is spar, which is kind of like parley but shorter and funnier,” Clarity Cook said. “My favorite topic of spar this year was ‘feet are gross.’”
The team traveled around with a cardboard cut-out of Mitt Romney. Early on in the season, team member Romario Fajardo-Zuniga held up the cut-out at Linfield University, which caused the whole room to chant Romney’s name.
After a successful season, the team has its eyes set on the state tournament next year. Out of its 11 members, only three of them were seniors.
