Formed during the 2011-2012 school year, the Archbishop Mitty High School Speech and Debate team (MSD) has grown exponentially from its 20 member after-school club to a 150+ member team with four dedicated class periods. Since its inception, MSD has become an educational and entertaining activity amongst its diverse student body, drawing students from all departments and backgrounds at Mitty. As of April 2019, the team is currently the defending four time State Champions. MSD has also placed Top 10 in the Nation (School of Outstanding Distinction) for the past four years. Checkout team updates at our website.
In speech and debate, students become members of the National Speech and Debate Association, a non-profit educational honor society that aims to foster public speaking and presentation skills. Students compete against fellow high school students in local, regional, and national competitions in several different events. The events range from research intensive, academic debate, quick-thinking impromptu events, platform speeches advocating societal change, and theatrical interpretation events. At tournaments, students not only compete for the opportunity to hold a trophy, but more importantly, learn life lessons about leadership, teamwork, time management, persistency, humility, and confidence. These life lessons are even more rewarding than trophies, because they shine brighter and last longer.
Speech and Debate covers public speaking (speech) and argumentation (debate). There are a total of twelve individual events (IE), broken down into three categories: Original, Interpretive and Spontaneous events. There are a total of five debate events, consisting of either a single debater on each side, a team of two debaters on each side, or an individual debater within a larger group. A full list and explanation of al seventeen events can be found on our team web site.
Though we have a primary team focus on local and state-level tournaments, Mitty’s Speech and Debate team is a nationally ranked Speech and Debate team. Recent invitational tournaments within California include Long Beach and Stanford, while nationwide tournaments occur in Chicago and the University of Kentucky. Finally, in June 2019 the team will travel to Austin, Texas, to compete at the National Speech and Debate Tournament, where we’re bringing our largest squad to date!
You can always attend a tournament and watch competition rounds. Find our local league calendar schedule on the Coast Forensics League Website below.