Spelhouse Speech and Debate Scrimmage - Kayce Brown

 

Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in the Morehouse Spelman Speech and Debate Scrimmage. As a member of the Spelman Speech and Debate Team, I was eager to showcase my skills and compete. The scrimmage yielded both challenge and excitement and members of both teams looked to put what they had learned to practice. The event began with an improv exercise. Students were asked to create a group mixed with Spelman and Morehouse students. Each group member had to embody a celebrity and communicate in character given a specific prompt. My group was charged with being stuck on a spaceship. Notably, I thoroughly enjoyed this activity. It not only challenged my creative side, but encouraged me to think outside of the box. My group exercised team work and aimed to connect with the audience through public speaking and emotion. 

For me, the highlight of the event was the scrimmage. I am extremely passionate about public speaking and policy, so I was excited to debate. The style of debate that we competed in was British Parliament. I had never debated in this style before, but I looked forward to challenging myself to understand the format, while still debating in a way that captivated the audience, proved my point, and took a stance. For my competition, the resolution was as follows: “prostitution should be legalized.” Now, I did not know a lot about prostitution, but I knew that it was usually denoted to be something negative. Shockingly enough, my team was on the affirmative side, this meant we were in favor of legalizing prostitution. I was a little nervous during prep time, because it brought a little uneasiness to make this argument. How could I defend a topic that I honestly did not agree with? However, given my high school debate skills I have been tasked with having to make arguments. I did not quite agree, even though this was on a different level. My partner and I prepped in a way that ensured we understood our position. Because research was not allowed, we were required to use reflective thinking, problem-solving, and deep analyzation skills to come up with our response.

I honestly like the fact that we were not able to research because the arguments came from our own thoughts in our own experiences.

 During the competition itself, I enjoyed stepping up to the podium. I argued in a way that showed passion and emotion. I was reminded of my love for debate and argumentation. I enjoyed taking notes and hearing the others’ positions and coming up with my own arguments in defense. I had to exercise teamwork skills with a sister whom I never debated with. I had to learn her debate style, her speaking style, her preparation style, in order to be successful. It was also rewarding to compete against Morehouse students because they provided a male perspective, more specifically, a black male’s perspective. 

This experience taught me the importance of having patience even in new situations. I’ve gained an even deeper appreciation for Speech and Debate and how it challenges minds to think outside the box and explore new topics. Until the next competition, I plan to sharpen my speech and debate skills. I want to explore topics in pop culture and politics to advance my knowledge. I want to have a deeper understanding about the world and society. Even though we placed second in this competition, I look forward to placing first in the next. It is not always about how you start, but rather how you finish. This is only the beginning. 

Kayce Brown