Speech

Yes. Students are required to take the two-trimester Speech class to participate on the team. This allows them to get the majority of their research and writing time during class. Additionally, students in the class are required to compete in two tournaments during the season (Oct. - February). This means that they can be and often are also competitive athletes who practice their sports every day; employees and interns outside of school; volunteers in their communities; actors at SAAS and elsewhere; Robotics team leaders; etc. We want our students to know that being a national-level competitor in Speech at SAAS does not mean you have to choose only that. We do this by offering Speech as an elective, which allows for research, writing, and presenting to happen during class time. Students also have homework for this class and work hard to research, write, and practice their speeches at home. If a student has already completed the class, they can continue to participate on the Speech team in later seasons, with the expectation that they research and write independently. They will also need to attend all Speech & Debate club meetings and be in regular communication via email or in person with the Speech & Debate coach prior to each tournament.

Speech is unlike being on a sports team in that you pick and choose which meets you want to go to and sign up for them in advance on the board in the Speech Room.

A tournament will generally occur on Saturday (speech events and debate together) for most of the day. We do leave early and sometimes come back late, depending on the location of the tournament.

Here's a brief rundown. If you ever have questions beyond this, your first stop will be your Speech Captain.

• Original Oratory – 8-10 minutes on persuasive topic of student’s choice, student-written, memorized.
• Informative Speaking - 7 minutes on an informative topic of student's choice, student-written, memorized.
• Dramatic/Humorous Interp - 8-10 minutes from an interpreted text (screenplay, stage play, TV show, etc.), memorized, student playing all parts.
• Dual Interpretation – Two-person version of Dramatic/Humorous Interpretation.
• Extemporaneous – Student has the choice of two current event topics. Then is given 30 minutes to prepare a 5 to 7 minute speech, researched from the team’s files constructed throughout the year.
• Impromptu - Student has the choice of three broad topics and has 6 minutes to both prepare and speak on one.

SAAS covers the fees for each tournament, but we do ask the students to pay any hotel or airfare costs in the event of a long-distance “away” meet.

Absolutely! Parents/guardians are welcomed and downright encouraged to come and visit tournaments and watch rounds! As long as you bring us snacks. Seriously, tournaments can get long and kids need to either bring food with them or have money for buying food at the concession areas provided as most tournaments do not allow students to leave the campus.

Additionally, we always need volunteer judges. We do not have much of a judging pool, and we generally have to provide one judge for every 3 or 4 kids who come to a tournament. You can learn everything you need to know to get started in about an hour, and we will teach you!