Welcome to West Port High School Speech and Debate Club!
Events
West Port High School Speech and Debate Club is a competition team that competes in speech and debate tournaments around the state of Florida. The events competed in include the categories of Public Address events, Interpretive Events, and Debate.
Public Address events consist of speeches written by the student. Some events (like Impromptu) involve very limited prep time. Students typically get one minute from selecting a prompt until they are expected to give a five minute speech. Others, like the Persuasive Speech event, involves the student writing, memorizing, and presenting a full speech.
Interpretative Events involve the student making a selection from a work of literature and performing the selected piece. This style of public speaking is more like acting than the other events. Interpretive Events range from the more serious Dramatic Interpretation events to the more lighthearted and comedic Humorous Interpretation.
Debate fosters critical thinking, research skills, and public speaking skills in student participants. Lincoln-Douglas debate involves one debater arguing in favor of a resolution and another arguing against. This style of debate involves which values should be held more highly than other values, and is less policy focused than other forms. Public Forum debate focuses less on values and more on the policy implications of a disagreement. Two teams of two argue for and against a resolution in this style of debate. Finally, Congressional Debate mimics the procedures of governmental debate, and speakers draft bills, resolutions, make motions, create a docket, and vote to pass bills into law.
Ultimately, students can find an event that fits their needs and desires best. Come to speech and debate to develop your public speaking, critical thinking, writing, and research skills while meeting other members of the West Port Wolfpack community interested in the same.
Meetings
Our meetings are held twice a week.
Tuesday, ALPHA B (12:41-1:06 PM) and Thursday (3:00-4:00 PM) in 5-109
Contact
Mr. Andrew Vertz
5-109
[email protected]
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. We look forward to seeing you soon!