Powell High School senior Paul Cox is going to not one but two national events for speech and debate — in part thanks to an event he first competed in at state on March 18, where the team placed third. This is the first time in 10 years Powell High School’s speech and debate team has earned a placement.

“Paul had told me … he had two goals this year, to qualify for nationals and to leave his name on something at the school,” coach Shelby Moore said. “And when we got that trophy, it really made me tear up to think that because of what happened with this team, we helped someone achieve one of their senior goals to have their name on a trophy in the cabinets before they left the high school.”

Moore is a former Powell High School and Northwest College speech and debate member; when she was in school the team won state six times in a row.

“Paul’s never done oratory before. I mean, that was something that our coach, Miss Moore, had kind of thrown him into, given him a topic, and told him to write it and do it,”  said Kyra Morrow, his public forum partner and debate captain. “And he ended up being second at state overall and first in 3A and then he’s qualified for nationals to go do that as well.”

The placement is bittersweet, Cox said, as he didn’t do as well as he wanted in public forum, his main event, but he does enjoy oratory and is grateful he was able to contribute points to the team. 

“I’m just so thankful that Shelby Moore got me to do oratory, and I’m thankful that I got to contribute to the team more than I usually can. I got to contribute more points through that, and I’m thankful to have had that experience, because it was great,” Cox said, adding, “It was fantastic and a lot of fun and … as a senior I look forward to seeing these other guys continue in the program and hopefully place well and contribute similarly to our team success.”

Out of this successful year Cox and four other students, Morrow, Taylor Peters, Teagan Southwick and Maggie Atkinson, will be going to the National Speech and Debate Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa, June 15-20. Also showing their skills on the national level will be Cox and the duo teams of Natalie Black and Jenessa Polson, and Alex Watts and Mason Coombs at the National Individual Event Tournament of Champions (NIETOC) in Kansas City, May 16-18. 

NIETOC is essentially everything but debate, Black explained, and it’s another chance for students to qualify at the national level. 

Students were willing to try new events this year, said coach Bryce Sapp, including Peters who tried her hand at impromptu.

“This team was so much more cohesive than our past teams have been,” Morrow said. “The team dynamic was very much like a family where everybody was supporting each other, everybody was encouraging each other and our coaches, Shelby Moore and Bryce Sapp, really pushed us to be better.”

The coaches were a big help for students as they prepared their pieces, Black said.

“Being able to work with the coaches and get ideas and bounce ideas off the teammates in between rounds … it was just really cool,” Black said. “Like, I hadn’t been able to do that in the past, and I think that the team community came together really well this year.”

For new member Norah Startin, who placed sixth in poetry interpretation, it was an experience to see her name on the finals sheet.

“The first [time] seeing your name on the finals sheet was really, really exciting,” Startin said with a smile. “And it was also really exciting to see everyone come up and hug you and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, you did it’ … I found it really exciting.”

For Startin to earn her place, it took a lot of preparation. She was at practice nearly every day since January memorizing poetry and figuring out her blocking. This level of preparation was not uncommon amongst the team members and it didn’t let up at state. 

“I stayed up really late the night before, after I figured out that I broke [into] the final round working on [my congressional debate],” Peters said of entering finals at state. “And then I woke up really early the next day to continue working on it.”

The competitors could debate in whatever order, Peters said, so she wanted to be prepared.

Preparation is the most important aspect of speech and debate, Morrow said — if competitors don’t have the right work ethic, their skill level doesn’t really matter.

“For example, with Taylor, I was there with her, watching her prep some stuff and helping her go through some of her speeches and come up with arguments,” Morrow said, adding, “I think her work ethic, along with her skill, is one of the biggest reasons why she broke and got as far as she did.”

State went pretty well, Sapp said, and while a few students he thought would make it to finals didn’t, overall the team put in the work.

Fundraising efforts are underway with a GoFundMe accessible at gofundme.com/f/help-phs-speech-and-debate-compete-at-nationals and several other fundraising efforts are underway.