The speech and debate team plan to have a mock tournament for new members on the week of Oct. 3 for new members after school. The first debate tournament for new members is scheduled on Oct. 8 at Ben Davis and students should plan to meet at the school around 7:15 a.m. The first debate tournament that includes returning members is on Oct. 15 at Kokomo and students should plan to meet at the school around 5:30 a.m.

Anushka Pandey, president of Speech and Debate and senior, said, “The idea right now is that, instead of a normal meeting, we have each of the debate events stay after school on one of the days (Monday through Friday) so that we can conduct mock rounds. The goal with having specified days is that we’re able to properly focus on each of the students to the extent that they need,” she said.

Speech and Debate sponsor Joseph McMillian said the layout of each tournament can vary.

“It depends on if it is a team debate or an individual debate but they (students) will compete against another team or individual. There will usually be three or four debates at the beginning of the day and if they qualify to compete in the further rounds depending on their scores, they might compete two or more times,” he said.