Plymouth High School's Speech team hopes to expand its trophy collection this year. Photo by: Matthew Libersky

By Matthew Libersky

For Plymouth’s Speech and Debate team, a new year brings new faces and presents new challenges. This year, they are left to fill the shoes of the several of last year’s seniors who were vital to the team.

At this point, it is hard to gauge the specific skills of their freshmen, as at this point they have only started focusing on preparing the newcomers for the season. “Every year, we simply look to fill the spots of the graduated seniors and go from there. Many of last year’s seniors did acting/interpretation events, so the door is open for our younger students in these events to establish themselves,” teacher Mr. David McKenzie said.

“The call-out meetings are where we’ll really start to get a feel for the amount of people who will be on the team,” senior Kelsey Shaffer said.

Among the seniors they are trying to “replace” is Bryt Hiatt. “Because I am in [extemporaneous] and impromptu, I particularly notice the absence of Hiatt, who taught me my event. The same is true for every other senior in their respective events. Their leadership always leaves big shoes to fill, and we strive to do the same for the year behind us,” Shaffer said.

“We are always trying to help prepare novice and teach them about their events, but we are mostly preparing for Sectionals, districts, state, and two national tournaments,” senior Olivia Hilliard said.

“All of the seniors were amazing speakers, and they all played a huge part in the team,” senior Ashton Morrow also commented.

However, they were in a similar situation last year, but, as senior Rebecca Brumbaugh said, “No one expected Plymouth to be competitive, and we weren’t. Our coach told us, that at the rate we were going, we had zero chance of succeeding at state. We proved him and the rest of the state wrong. A team who had been unsuccessful, divided, and lazy came together and worked harder than ever before.”

Last year, they missed winning the state tournament by one point. “We want to have a Plymouth student in every final round at that [upcoming] tournament. And we want to bring the Lawson back where it belongs … the Plymouth High School Speech Trophy Case!”

Brumbaugh, Hilliard, Morrow, Pickell and Shaffer are the members of the “Executive Council,” the group of students who set the team’s major goals for the season.