This year speech and debate has done a phenomenal job with the obstacles that were put in front of them. Mr. Andrew Gibbs, the speech and debate teacher for two years, has done a great job with finding a way to let students compete.
All of the tournaments this year have helped to prepare for qualifying tournaments. This year there were two students, seniors Bryson Rose and Mackenzie Reed who qualified to compete at State. Mackenzie and Bryson have been in speech and debate all four years.
This year they unfortunately did not get to travel for competition but they did get to send in a video of their events. Mackenzie placed second in her qualifying tournament in Dramatic Interpretation. Throughout this year she has practiced really hard to get to this point and she said she would not change anything.
“Honestly, no, I performed the piece to the best of my ability and it’s up to the judges’ interpretation at competition. Some thought I did phenomenally and others didn´t; at the end of the day I really liked my piece and thought I did very well,” Mackenzie senior.
Byrson placed fifth in storytelling and second in Prose and will be competing in Prose at State. Throughout his years in speech and debate he has put numerus hours into practicing, memorizing and critiquing his own work.
“I think I did the best I could with all the constraints this year with filming yourself in a setup versus being in person,” Bryson said.
This year was really hard for most of the speech and debate class to find a way to get their personality across with the virtual setup but through the course of this year they have made the most of it.
Both Mackenzie and Bryson are very excited to be able to show their skills at the State Tournament. From Savannah High, congratulations and good luck!