The Winter Speech and Debate season, as well as the Drama Season, is starting!

Debate club is a program in which students compile and learn how to organize research into a speech. Students will build arguments based on a given topic and compete against other teams from other catholic schools.

The Speech club is a program in which students select a piece to perform alone or with a partner in different categories (Example: Poetry, Duo Interpretation). They must perfect their speaking skills and will be able to build confidence by performing in front of a crowd. Speech students act out and learn to enunciate and emphasize important parts of text, therefore helping them in school subjects. They will use learn constructive criticism to better themselves and will be more skilled at memorizing information.

In the Junior High newsletter, a message was given at the end of the sheet detailing more about Debate.

“Course goal: To teach students the basic principles of interscholastic debate plus develop basic communication skills/argumentation strategies that can be used in future speeches, presentations or group projects inside and outside of the classroom. Participating in debate would also help students become more aware of public communication messages. Additionally, students will learn how to impromptu give speeches, use evidence and learn to rebut evidence.

Participation in debate is completely on a volunteer basis. However, if a student decides to participate in debate then the student is expected to come prepared to each debate practice/class. At the end of the debate sessions, St. Philip participate in a debate tournament which will be judged by parents, teachers, and experienced high school debaters.”

The Speech club is coached by two St. Philip teachers, Mrs. Homan and Mrs. Bello.

The Debate club is coached by two lawyers, Mr. Brown and Ms. Corrales.

Other staff, such as Ms. France, coordinate or participate in organizing the tournaments.

There was a mandatory student and parent meeting on Thursday (9/10) from 3:30 to 4:00, held in 6A (Mrs. Bello’s homeroom) for anyone who is interested in joining the clubs. The meeting touched upon both Speech and Debate.

Official practice started on Thursday 9/17 after school. The tournaments are on Thursday, December 3 (debate only) and Friday, December 4 (speech categories, debate finals). The reason why the debate tournaments cover two days is because with an increasing amount of debate teams from the catholic schools who participate, the harder it becomes to determine places. Only select teams are chosen to move on to the second day’s round, and the second day’s round for debate is an elimination round.

The Speech and Debate tournaments are a competition and there will be places, usually 1st to 5th awards for Speech and 1st to 4th awards for Debate.

I have participated and placed in Debate tournaments myself, and is not only enjoyable and fun, but it looks amazing on high school resumes (and so does Speech). However, a lot of work and practice is required if you want to participate in Speech and Debate. If you have any questions, you can contact Mrs. Bello at [email protected].

The Drama club is starting to work on the Fall Production, a play. A description of the Drama club and what it is about is given on the Drama website “www.spasdramaclub.com”.

“St. Philip the Apostle School Drama Club is an after school extra curricular program. Twice a year 5th thru 8th graders participate in a theater production; comedy/drama for the fall and a musical in the spring. Students go through the audition process and then work for several months learning the show. We also take a few field trips to see local productions in the community as well as major Broadway tours.”

The Moderator and Director is Ms. Natalie Ramirez.

The Choreographer is Mrs. Kristy Simone.

The Stage Technician is Mr. John Weyermuller.

Students will be acting out The Westing Game. Important dates were emailed from Mr. Yniguez to 5th through 8th grade:

Friday 9/11 – Mandatory Parent Meeting in the Learning Commons (3:15)

Tuesday 9/15 – Auditions

Friday 9/18 – Callbacks

Tuesday 9/22 – First Rehearsal

There is more information on the Drama Club website: “www.spasdramaclub.com”  

Students must have signed up for auditions through the online website under the “Audition Sign Ups” tab.

A set of 11 rules and requirements are shown on the website under the “Audition Information” tab at the top of the page. It must be printed, signed and given to Ms. Natalie by the day of the auditions.

Utmost commitment and dedication must be given if students desire to be in Drama. If any one of the rules are violated, consequences will surely result.

Students will be given a script of the play and a part (which must be memorized). The Drama club has a costume closet, but sometimes students provide their own. Depending on the situation, the school may also purchase more if needed.

The Drama club brings out confidence and shows inner talent! Be sure to check out more about the Drama club!

If there is any questions, email Ms. Natalie at [email protected].