Montville Forensics Outreach Program Educates Middle School Students About Speech and Debate

MONTVILLE, NJ - The Montville Township High School’s Forensics Team held an outreach program for middle school students, aiming to educate them about speech and debate, as well as raise funds for the high school forensics program.

The program allows students the choice to learn about either speech or debate. Speech consists of interpretation and public address. Both of these types of speech have smaller categories, such as humorous interpretation, dramatic interpretation, declamation, etc. Students who participate in speech either find a speech or write their own, and then memorize and perform it.

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The debate program focuses primarily on public forum, though the high school team also practices Lincoln Douglas and parliamentary debate. Public forum consists of a four minute speech, a four minute rebuttal, a three minute summary and a two minute final focus speech, where debaters explain why they won the round. Many of the public forum topics discuss policy and global issues, according to Debate Captain Jennie Wang.

The program begins with an introduction about speech and debate, and students then split into groups to learn about their respective topic. Both speech and debate programs start with warm ups to practice public speaking.

In the speech program, students learn how to find a piece to perform, cut it down and practice it, and how to prepare and perform their own speech. They also learn about “popping,” which is differentiating characters during interpretation events, according to Speech Captain Meekha Panicker.

The debate program focuses on lessons and practice tournaments. Students learn how to persuade, create rebuttals and engaging, effective arguments. Throughout both the speech and debate programs, students play games, such as Kahoot! and Blooket, to keep students engaged.

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The program is led by volunteers from the Montville Township High School Forensics Team. The team is currently ranked 3rd in the state for speech and debate overall. The speech team is ranked 5th and the debate team is ranked 2nd. Multiple students attend the national tournament every year, and these students often participate in the outreach program, according to Panicker.

The outreach program is also one of the biggest fundraisers for the forensics program, according to Wang.

“It gives younger children the opportunity to have their voices heard,” said Wang on the importance of the outreach program. She also emphasized how forensics teaches real life skills, such as the art of persuasion and keeping up with current events. She also commented on the team aspect of the program, along with getting to know members of the Forensics Team and making new friends.

“This helps especially when you are talking about something sensitive– you know how to deliver it a bit better, you know how to say certain things without coming off as rude or insensitive,” said Panicker. She noted the improvements in public speaking and research skills that the forensics program induced.

Summer sessions run Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Spring and Fall sessions are every Tuesday from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. for eight weeks.

The next outreach session begins on August 19. Sign ups are open until the day of the program, and can be found in the camps section of the Parks and Recreation Summer Brochure . Alternatively, call 973-331-3305 or sign up in person at the Montville Township Recreation Center.

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