The speech and debate team pose after their Districts competition. Sponsor Joseph McMillan said the competition went well as Carmel placed first. (Submitted Photo: Anushka Pandey)

The speech and debate team is preparing for the state competition on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4 at Marion University. Participating members will meet at the school around noon on Feb. 3 and around 6:30 a.m. on Feb. 4. Joseph McMillan, speech and debate sponsor, said there was a limited roster.

“In order to determine who is going to make that state competition, we, of course, look at how competitors have done in competitions,” he said. “Also, the event heads for different events have also been hosting mocks (practice meets) for people who want to try out for the state roster. That gives an opportunity for the event heads to see different competitors and see how they each do and give them feedback and ultimately make a determination on who they are going to recommend for that roster.”

Anushka Pandey, co-president of speech and debate and senior, said the schedule after state is different from previous years.

“This year the schedule is a bit different than it has been previously, so (the state competition) will be the last debate competition until nationals in June. After that, we are going to be shifting the club’s focus more towards speech because the season for that continues past the debate season.”