Hutchison students participated in their first speech and debate tournament of the year about significant and relevant issues in America. Kate Anderson ’24 and Amelia Martin ’24 debated several schools in the Southern region about if all illicit drugs should be legalized. The debates were extremely intense, and the students were very passionate about their topic. The girls were chosen at random to either support or go against the topic, so they prepared for weeks before the final tournament.

Garner Monroe ’25 also participated in a speech tournament, where students from several different schools gave an informative speech. Her speech was well prepared and was also about important world issues such as gun violence and how it is linked to video games.

Kate Anderson ’24 said, “The tournament was hosted at Bartlett High School, and there were lots of students from Ravenwood and Brentwood. It was very organized; everyone was on time, and there were multiple judges to help us.” Bartlett High School hosted the tournament for the eager students, and many of them say that it was a successful event. The grand high school was thankfully large enough to host all of the students without any problems.

Speech and debate club president Hira Janjua ’24 said, everyone did amazing at the tournament for their first time. Even though we did not win anything, I believe with more practice and more experience, we can win many awards in the future and have trophies in Mr. Reynolds room.”