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Riya's RamblingsAuthor: Riya
Riya, a 9th grader, shares her views of her world - what she is experiencing, what she likes and some tips. Language: en Genres: Personal Journals, Society & Culture Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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Ep 90 - How I Came to Love Speech & Debate
Episode 90
Thursday, 8 May, 2025
Shout out to Ms. Daisy – I love how she tells everyone about my podcast. Thank you, Ms.Daisy!!And shoutout to Emma from Ohio – who listened to the podcast episode of my mom discussing her composting and emailed me!!In today's episode, I talked about my experience in speech and debate. My older brother did debate in HS and loved talking to me about his experiences.When I was in middle school, I wasn’t planning to do debate – I thought it was for nerds. But, I joined it in 8th grade to pick an easy class.Then, I took debate in 9th grade mostly because I was expected to by my parents and brother. I was planning to do the bare minimum in the class!Then came my first debate tournament.I chose to participate in extemporaneous speaking – where you have to prepare a 7-min speech within a 30-min of being given a topic. I also participated in “original oratory” – where I had to prepare a 10 min speech on a topic of my choice. I chose “Overthinking” as my topic.I met an amazing group of sophomores at the tournament and I met other people from other schools and started to have a good time. I also ended up watching one of my friend's rounds and loved it! I ended up getting placed 3rd in the tournament for the extemporaneous speaking!!!I then found out there was another tournament my birthday weekend in Amarillo and I asked my parents if I could go. I was so excited when they said ‘yes’It was a really fun weekend and I had a great time with my friends. I did really well in my events and became super close with my team. This is when I truly understood debate culture – it is such a welcoming group of students and everyone’s watching out for each other.I realized that I could be actually good at this debate thing, and that I really enjoyed it!I made qualifying for the state tournament my goal. So I decided to go to every tournament in my 2nd semester and I worked REALLY hard before all the competitions.But I didn’t do as well as I had hoped for. It hurt so much – I was so bummed after every tournament. I have to give a heartfelt thank you top my coach- Mr.White, and my friends who always encouraged me to keep trying! I could not have enjoyed debate this year without them.Unfortunately, I did not qualify for the state tournament which was frustrating.But I then decided to focus on the district competition because they was a qualifying event for the national competition.I then decided to switch topics in my original oratory – I switched from “Overthinking” to “emotional desensitization”I worked so hard on editing and my delivery. I qualified for semi finals at the district competition (yay!) but I didn’t qualify for the national competition. It was hard and sad, but I'm so so proud of my friends who qualified. I am also so so proud of myself and all that I achieved this year! :) I am so happy I proved myself wrong and found debate as something I truly belonged in. So if there’s anything that you are hesitant about – just try it. You may just end up enjoying it.I encourage you to try out for speech and debate. There are SO many events that I am sure you will find something that interests you.Email me: RiyaRamblings@gmail.com if you have questions about speech and debate or about anything else! You will get a shoutout!As always, listen rate and share!
