By Krista Daly
For Wyn Mordecai, signing up for San Marino High School’s Speech and Debate Team started out as a need for a visual and performing arts credit. But after just one week, he fell in love with it.
“The very best thing about debate is it makes you analyze both sides of an issue,” said Mordecai, vice president of the team.
The Speech and Debate team at SMHS has 110 students, who participate in 26 tournaments each academic year, said Speech and Debate teacher Matt Slimp.
“The kids work really, really hard,” he said. “They have good support from the administration and the community.”
There are 16 events – both speech and debate – in every tournament. Depending on the type of event, students have six months to prepare for one debate or just a couple minutes as the topic changes in every single round, Slimp said.
“Debate is the largest academic competition on planet Earth,” he said.
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