Speech and debate is a demanding yet valuable activity for students at Hoover High School. It teaches students useful skills for other academic subjects and builds confidence. Debate trains students in public speaking and expressing their ideas fluently. This comfort carries over to job interviews, school seminar discussions, presentations and many more tasks. Some students have mastered speech and debate over the years, and qualified to the national tournament; this year, Hoover’s national qualifiers are seniors AnnaSophia Bates [in Informative Speaking] and Bobby Baker [International Extemporaneous Speaking]. The 2024 National Tournament will be held in Des Moines, Iowa June 16-21. According to the National Speech and Debate Association [NSDA], Baker’s event, International Extemporaneous Speaking, “students are presented with a choice of three questions related to international current events and, in 30 minutes, prepare a seven-minute speech answering the selected question.” Baker explained why it is that he enjoys his category.

“I like it just because I’m not confined to one specific speech all year, and instead I can vary what I am going to
say every single round,” he said. “I enjoy international politics and current events.”

Bates qualified for nationals in Informative Speaking, which is “a 10-minute presentation written and performed by the student. Informative requires students to balance that content with delivery and style. Students in Informative must be articulate, engaging, and smooth with their delivery at both a vocal and physical level. The purpose of the event is to inform and educate the audience on a topic of significance. Students may or may not employ the use of visual aids in the performance,” according the NSDA. Hoover Speech and Debate coach Ms. Missy Sterzbach has full confidence in her students. She voices how much time is put into their training.

“They were ready for the state tournament because we start preparing for our season in July, and by the time we get to March they are hopefully peaking already,” she said. “We just practice like normal, and try to go in with confidence knowing that we are as prepared as we can be.”

Stertzbach praises her students, and her students recognize the work their coach dedicates for the betterment of the team. Bates discusses her experiences with Sterzbach and her teammates over the years.

“The most important thing that my coaches and my team did to help me prepare was that they were there for me,” she said. “For the past five years, I have competed on the team, and through that time, I have had varying levels of success. What I value most is that my friends cared for me as much on the day that I got dead last my sophomore year as they did when I qualified to the national tournament… Without my team, I would have quitspeech a long time ago.”

Stertzbach discusses her goals for the team.

“The main goal for all students is that they will eventually be the best that they can be, and that looks different for all types of students, but ideally I want them all to be able to reach their goals,” she said. “Whether it be to qualify to a state tournament, qualify to a national tournament, place at a tournament, whatever their goal is, I want them to be able to achieve and reach that goal.”

Senior Alec Pilati will attend nationals in a supplemental category. He and his duo parter, Bates [who competed in multiple events this season], made it to the final round at the state tournament at Wooster High School in March, along with Senior Cam VanVatta in Program Oral Interpretation. He spoke about his experience on the team.

“Speech and debate also taught me to trust the process,” he said. “Ms. Stertzbach paired AnnaSophia and I together four years ago when we barely knew each other, in the hopes that by senior year we would have developed such a strong work ethic with each other. And Ms. Stertzbach was right! The hard work paid off.”

Qualifying to nationals and finaling at the state tournament are often emotional events for experienced competitors

“As I stood up to go to my [Duo Interpretation] final, the [Informative Speaking] final was also being announced,” Bates said. “I heard my speaker code announced, and I just froze in place. I just went into shock. I started crying and ran over to my mom, who talked me down. As they announced fourth, then third, then second place, I could not believe my ears. Qualifying to nationals, let alone championing the qualifying tournament, has been my dream for all five years,
and to finally achieve that was absolutely overwhelming. I started crying in front of the whole audience while Missy hugged me. It was so embarrassing, but I didn’t even care!”

Pilati explained finaling at states as “surreal and unimaginable.”

“It was insane,” he said. “Getting to the final round at states is a goal that every competitor has, and to be a part of the top six in the state is surreal. When we were on stage and the finalists were announced I couldn’t speak, my hands immediately covered my mouth. I was just in shock and suddenly we were all hugging each other. Even though we were all from different schools, the friendships you make at speech and debate are so strong and supportive.”

Stertzbach further explains what an achievement it is to qualify for the national tournament by discussing how cutthroat Ohio is in the speech and debate realm.

“Ohio is one of the most competitive states in the country, and our district is one of the most competitive districts in Ohio, so for us to get to the state tournament is a first hurdle for a lot of our students,” she
said. “Then to achieve really great things at the state tournament, really proves exactly what a high level our students are performing at. We coach here in eastern Ohio, and at North Canton, some of the finest speech and debate students in the country. That is displayed through how we perform in the state and national tournament.”

With all the team’s successes, Pilati focused on his gratitude for speech and debate and the memories that came with it.

“Speech and debate is something that I am already eternally grateful for,” he said. “Seeing my friends and my team succeed is a much better feeling than doing well myself. It is so cool to compare our team from the beginning of the
year to the end of the year.”

Along with the value about being on a team, Bates elaborated on the long-term personal benefits of participating in Speech and Debate.

“Speech gave me confidence in myself for one of the first times in my life,” she said. “It taught me that I am worth listening to, and that my words matter. Over the course of high school, it has taught me endurance, dedication, how to win with grace, how to lose with grace and how to view competition as a challenge to improve myself, rather than tear down my opponents. Speech has given me many of my closest friends and favorite memories, and it has easily become one of the most meaningful parts of my life. Speech is the only thing that I would wake up at 4:30 in the morning on a

Saturday for.”