On Saturday, December 13th, East Helena Middle School and East Helena High School will host one of the largest speech, debate, and drama meets for high schoolers in Montana.
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At least 25 teams from A, B, and C division high schools all over the state will meet and participate in competitions for their specialty. The speech events will be held at East Helena High School, while the debate and drama will be held at the middle school.
“Because we have so many kids that want to compete, we are going to fit them into every room that we can,” said Kenzie Lombardi, assistant coach for East Helena High School Speech, Drama & Debate.
In most events, there will be four preliminary rounds. With debate, two teams will compete against each other head-to-head about a specific topic, while speech and drama will have a room of competitors in a free-for-all, with various events including comedy skits, writing a speech real time, or dramatic performances with props and costumes. After calculating scores, the highest eight scores for speech and drama will advance to the finals, and the top two debate teams will meet in the championship.
This is more than just a fun meet. It’s a chance for students to build real-life skills.
“When are you gonna have to publicly speak? Well, everywhere!” said Paul Condon, the principal for East Helena High School.
More than 350 students are already signed up. With that many kids, they need support from the community to volunteer as judges. About 150 spots still need to be filled.
Anyone interested can sign up to judge one of the 18 events. Each one runs about two hours, and people can sign up for multiple slots throughout the day from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“You will enjoy it, and you'll think it’s funny,” said Jocelyn Monroe, a freshman in the drama events at East Helena High School. “I really think you’ll leave that day feeling better about yourself.”
“It gives a lot of kids in our community a chance to really show what they're made of,” Condon said.
“If they’re really into what they’re talking about, you can feel the emotion they’re trying to prove their point,” said Makaila Prog, another freshman in the drama events at East Helena High School.
“Without these volunteer judges, we would not be able to host a meet and do what we do,” said Abby Bishop, a junior in the debate events at East Helena High School.
For those interested, there are optional training dates on December 8th and 10th at East Helena High School from 5 to 5:30 p.m. Materials and instructions for volunteers will be sent out ahead of the meet.
