As the season raps up, one of the biggest Speech and Debate competitions of the semester is the National Qualifying Congressional Debate competition on January 28-29. Because of the high stakes that this competition holds, Junior Gabby Hooper discusses the organizational plans in order to get prepared for the tournament.

“Usually we all take different bills to write speeches on, but this competition came on so fast,” Hooper said.

There are a total of 30 speeches that need to be written in order to get prepared for the competition, all of which need to be written by the 8 members of the speech and debate team.

“Everyone has really stepped up for this competition, we’ve gotten a lot of the speeches done that need to be written and even though we started a little chaotic, everything is looking really good now,” Hooper said.

Because this is a national qualifying competition, the speech and debate members that perform well have the opportunity to represent Castle View at the National Speech and Debate Association in the summer.

“We typically send about four people to nationals for Congress. It’s a really big deal, so getting ready and performing well is super important. I’m really proud of everything our team has done this year and I have a good feeling about how we’re finishing the season,” Hooper said.