By Alok Ganguly
Staff Writer

The Speech and Debate Club at Westford Academy has been around for 10 years, and has been successful in providing WA with several awards for speaking competitions.

The club has over 30 members, almost double the amount from last year, and all are active participants in statewide tournaments. Speech and Debate is also a student run club, with minimal help from parents who help contact schools to set tournaments up.

Juniors Spurthi Jonnalagadda and Evan Wang are the captains of the club. Their job is to make sure that each of the specific event coaches are teaching the other members how to speak and preparing them for the tournaments.

“[The coaches] moderate the tournaments, and do the behind the scenes stuff to make sure the club runs smoothly,” said Jonnalagadda.

In the tournaments, students participate in an event from either the Speech category, or the Debate category. Each category houses several events, and Westford Academy has students able to compete in several of the events offered.

“The tournaments are usually on Saturday, and they last the whole day. Members of any event can compete in their event with multiple other people,” said senior Asad Khimani, a coach for speech events.

One of the most popular speech events is Impromptu.

“Impromptu is basically a test of ad-libbing your skills. It’s in front of a small audience as well, and a good start for new members,” said junior Anuskha Shrivastan, a coach for the Impromptu event.

Debate consists of mainly two events: Public Forum Debate and Lincoln-Douglas Debate.

“[Public Forum] is more politically oriented, where the competitors provide their own political views on modern issues, like healthcare,” said junior Rohan Rastogi, a coach for the debate students.

Speech and Debate has helped club members expand their public speaking skills, and  also helps students with in-class presentations.

“Joining speech and debate definitely helps develop public speaking skills, and it helps in speaking in front of the class … I don’t have to practice a million times anymore because I have the confidence to know how to present my thoughts and ideas effectively, because I have participated in this club,” said Jonnalagadda.

The club meets most Tuesdays, in room 143, from 6:30 to 8:30 P.M.