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Speech and Debate Team

Speech and debate is uniquely suited to build skills in critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity, and civic engagement. 

Students pose with head of school

academic all-americans

Potomac honored nine Potomac Speech and Debate Academic All-Americans. The four seniors and five juniors were presented with their certificates. 

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We recently introduced peer grading in our Upper School Speech That Matters class. Here, speeches are given to audiences, not a teacher. We use a peer grading system to assess speeches. Students know they are accountable to each other.  It has turned out to be a powerful tool in the class.  Every speech gets an oral critique from the class as well.  It creates an environment where risk taking works and failure is OK.  It also holds students accountable to important speech making practices like eye contact, or verbal command of an audience. 

Harry Strong, Upper School Faculty

In the short term, most debaters will notice that debate will help them in the classroom. Over the long term, debate significantly increases the success rate of college applicants. Most debaters are “hooked” once they compete at their first tournament, and the activity promotes and teaches many of the same virtues of a competitive sport, such as the importance of diligence and teamwork.

Why sign up for Speech and Debate?

The most common reason that students compete in Speech and Debate is that it’s fun! If that strikes you as odd, consider these thoughts:

1) You will make friends at other schools all over the metro area and the state of Virginia. Eventually, your friend base will grow to include students throughout the nation. Only in debate to you get to know and become friends with your opponents!

2) We travel all over the country to compete. The more successful you become, the more opportunities you will have for travel. 

3) Outsmarting your opponents provides a sense of accomplishment, especially given that public speaking greatly scares many people!

4) If you like competing, then this is an activity for you. Debate is as competitive as any sport! 

5) You get to spend time a group of really smart, cool people who will make help you become even more intelligent.

6) Only in speech and debate to you really get to “Suit Up” and love it.

Speech and Debate is an activity that allows for continual self-improvement.

1) This is a life-changing experience. You will become a profoundly stronger student and more effective at any profession in the future because of a speech and debate background. A 2015 Pew Research study shows that 90% of American adults said the best things to learn in school to get ahead were communication skills, logic, writing, and teamwork—exactly the skills we teach in speech and debate! Plus, during the 2021-21 school year, nine Potomac School students were named Academic All-Americans in debate!

2) There are lots of college opportunities and scholarships in Speech and Debate!

• Colleges naturally recruit Speech and Debate students at a higher level than athletes. 

• Did you know the University for Alabama has won more national debate titles (19) than national football titles (16)?

Speech and Debate is for everyone, not just future lawyers!

The truth is that debate students enter all professions in life. Coach Strong has seen his former debaters become chefs, engineers, scientists, businessmen and businesswomen, researchers, public policy experts, lawyers, ministers, and doctors. The truth is that debate helps any student in any profession.

What is Speech and Debate like at Potomac? Potomac competes in several styles of debate. Public forum and worlds schools debate are the common forms. Public forum debate involves teams of two students debating a topic that has been researched for a month before competition. Worlds schools debate is involves teams of three students debating both prepared and impromptu “Parli” styled motions. After school practices consist of skills development, scrimmages, research, and a lot of conversation!

What kinds of topics are debated?

The topics are very timely and reflect what students and families might read about or see in the news.

Does Speech and Debate count as an activity or a team sport credit?

Students who participate in debate in both the fall and the winter have the opportunity to do an athletic independent study for one season and receive an activity credit for the other season. Alternatively, some students choose debate in the fall and then play a sport in the winter, and vice versa. However, the most successful debaters tend to be those who compete in both seasons, and most of our returning debaters plan to compete in both seasons next year.

What if my student has no previous experience?

Everyone begins as a novice, and we welcome students from all Upper School grades. Finding one’s voice competing is the first challenge. After that, learning debate is pretty simple.

What does the practice schedule look like?

The debate team functions just like a sports team in that we have daily practices and two weekend tournaments per month. Practices are daily from 3:30 to 5:30 pm (with some Wednesdays off).

What kind of student makes a good debater? Is debate “too academic” for my student?

There are lots of ways to be a great debater, and our debate team includes many different personalities. Generally, the best debaters are people that are intellectually curious, can think critically about a topic, and are competitive by nature.

Potomac Senior Named Speech and Debate National Champ, Team Shines
Potomac Senior Named Speech and Debate National Champ, Team Shines

This past weekend, senior Hannah put an exclamation point on her speech and debate career with the Tournament of Champions National Championship in Original Oratory. A rare TOC triple qualifier in the same year, de Souza also excelled by finishing in fourth place in program oral interpretation and as a semifinalist in oral interpretation.

Monica M. ‘26 added a speech semifinal finish in dramatic interpretation and a quarterfinal finish in Original Oratory. In debate, Sebastian G. ‘25 was a semifinalist in congressional debate. The public-forum debate team of Sasha L. ‘26 and Tristan M. ‘27 finished 19th overall in a field of 116 teams that earned two or more bids to the tournament. Sasha and Tristan have consistently performed as one of the nation’s top teams.  

This year’s Speech and Debate Tournament of Champions featured 319 schools that successfully had at least one student qualify. A bid is either a championship or a high placing at national circuit events during the season. During the season, Potomac speech and debate students competed in six national circuit events as they sought to qualify for the TOC.  

Speech and Debate Place in Top 5
Speech and Debate Place in Top 5

The Potomac Speech and Debate team recently placed in the top five at two large national circuit events. Prior to Thanksgiving, the team competed at St. Joseph's University, placing fifth, and this past weekend, at George Mason University, placing third. Both events confirm Potomac's national ranking of 85th.

At the GMU event, seniors Hannah D. and Meredith V. finished 1-2 in individual events. The students showed their depth and experience with two event championships and three runner-up finishes. Sebastian G. '25 added two placings. Monica M. '26 and Meritt L. '27 also won their first individual event championships. Additionally, Alexander B. '25 finished seventh in the Congressional Debate at Princeton.