Speech and Debate have always been very competitive sports. There are many schools all over Missouri with highly competitive teams trying to take home first place in a tournament.

Liberty hosted its first official Speech and Debate tournament on Friday, Nov. 14 and Saturday, Nov. 15.  They welcomed schools from all over St. Louis, St. Charles, Warren, Jefferson and Lincoln counties to attend. Overall, there were close to 30 schools that participated in the event.

Liberty not only hosted the event, but had people participate as well. Sophomore Sanjana Anand placed eighth in Prose and seventh in Lincoln Douglas debate, where she debated about subsidizing fossil fuels.

Anand expresses a love for the sport.

“It feels great to represent Liberty in Speech and Debate and it’s such a unique and rewarding experience,” she said. “Speech and Debate has taught me so much and I’ve developed public speaking skills and gained confidence through it. In tournaments, I’ve met so many new people and have learned so much from them.”

Freshmen Zoe Carpenter and Lucy Hunter competed in public forum and learned a lot about the topic of cybersecurity. It is good to see the Speech and Debate team grow every year with new freshman and upperclassmen becoming interested in the topic.

The Speech and Debate team plans to compete again in December, January and February, with two district competitions in March. They hope to continue to build and grow as a group and host more competitions in future seasons.