Students shine at speech, debate tournament

MOSES LAKE - Students streamed into Moses Lake High School dressed to impress.

The girls wore conservative, darkly-colored skirts or pantsuits, while the boys wore dress shirts and ties, a few even donning suits with matching bowler hats.

But it was their words, not their attire, that left an impression Saturday.

The Moses Lake Invitational, a forensic tournament featuring speech and debate competitions, hosted debaters from all over central and eastern Washington, and even Oregon. While attendance was down due to the weather, enough students showed up to keep each other's wits sharp.

Jessica Pederson, a senior at Othello High School and co-president of the school's debate club, and Othello High School freshman Brittany Burcham, both delivered humorous interpretation speeches to judge Pat Simmons, who is the assistant coach for Moses Lake High School's team.

When she judges humorous interpretations, Simmons looks for things like how well the student's message is conveyed through character differentiation, how well they've gotten their point across, and, because it's so important to humor, how well they have their timing down, she said.

Judging other competitions, such as Congress, in which students debate bills, requires her to focus on different criteria, such as how well they express different points of view and how well they observe parliamentary procedure, she said.

"There's all kinds of different categories and something for every kid," she said.

"I really liked the fact that everybody was so friendly, even if you were competing against them," said Pederson. "And the fact that you have so many choices, because ... there are different kinds of speeches, different kinds of debates," she said. "You can do anything that appeals to you."

When she first started giving speeches, she had severe stage fright.

"Now I have no problem standing up in front of people and performing," she said.

It's a skill she'll need for her future career as an elementary librarian, she said.

"Not being able to stand up in front of kids to tell them about books is kind of a big problem for me," she said with a laugh.

Brandi Wilkins, co-president of Othello High School's debate club, recruited both Pederson and Burcham, her younger sister.

"Watching her perform her things in our living room, they were just hilarious, and I always wanted to be a part of that," said Burcham.

She has problems with stuttering when she speaks publicly, something speech and debate has helped her overcome, she said.

Wilkins was attracted to debate because of the friendliness of the competitors.

"I've seen people leave their iPads out and never get stolen," she said. "I can go sit at a table where I've never talked to a person before and we can all just strike up conversation."

These kinds of tournaments arm students with skills they'll need in the real world, said Don Hendrixson, coach for Moses Lake High School's debate team.

"Obviously, public speaking is a great skill to have, because it's something that most Americans fear and won't do," he said.

The students also learn how to present themselves to their teachers and peers and, because they have to work with each other, they learn how to cooperate, he said. Academic skills like researching, writing and presenting come into play too, he added.

The competitive element keeps the students engaged.

"What I've noticed is that kids in the class, once they start competing, they become much more engaged," he said. "And when they return from the competition, they know a lot more ... than just in a classroom, because they're going to learn from their peers and they're going to learn from the idea of, 'Well, I can do better,' or  'How can I be better?' And they're going to be a lot more engaged because of that."