Speech and Debate Reaches Top 21 Percent in United States

The McQuaid Jesuit Speech and Debate team is among the top 21 percent of Speech and Debate teams in the United States. The Speech and Debate team recently sent a team of three students, seniors George Rogalskyj and Hugo Keith and sophomore Daniel Backus, to compete in the Tuna Spider International World School Debate.

All three earned high speaker points in the preliminary rounds, debating against prestigious teams. They were eliminated in round six by a team from Bangladesh. This is the first time a Rochester area school debated in an international tournament.

This successful speech and debate team is moderated by global studies and competitive Speech and Debate teacher Dr. Kathy Ruppert. Dr. Ruppert claims that all the success comes from the groups of talented kids who join the team. It also helps that former Speech and Debate students return to help younger and newer members.

Their most recent success came in September, where sophomores Jake Longuil, Peyton Petkus, and Daniel Backus all advanced to the elimination round.

Speech and Debate teaches students to become effective researchers, persuasive writers, and confident communicators while empowering them to become engaged with issues of social justice and public policy in the world around them. Students have the opportunity to compete in everything from poetry, drama, humor, original oratory, and extemporaneous speech.

The team meets every day for practice and it continues nearly year round. They practice for 11 out of the 12 months of the year.