Heart racing, you walk into the room. A select few judges stare at you, and it’s your turn to stand. You get up–fix your tie, prepping your notes, and giving your speech. A few minutes later it’s over. You just finished your speech flawlessly. This is the start of your journey in public speaking. This essential skill can be traced to many moments in life, and several academic teams built this skill, particularly Speech & Debate and Model UN. But which one should you, as a high school student at The Village School, choose?
Speech & Debate and Model UN are rigorous academic teams where students talk in front of other students or judges. Both will build upon public speaking skills, create a frame for teamwork, and boast students’ resumes, which will help students on their path to college or the corporate world. While each boasts an immense amount of skill, Speech & Debate helps students work on their speaking skills whereas Model UN aids intuition and research. While it shouldn’t be a driving factor, both can be a driving factor in your resume and college applications to prove these skills to set yourself apart from others.
Speech & Debate has several events encouraging a diverse set of skills from acting, to improv, to teamwork. Events include Humorous Interpretation (an acting event), Impromptu (a speaking event with improvisation), and Congressional Debate (a reflection of the American Congress). While some people only do one event, others take up several to diversify their skills. Tournaments tend to happen multiple times a month at local high schools but occasionally in other cities. With a mass amount of students helping each other, Speech & Debate is a reputable team and a small community within the school. The Village School’s team has also been recognized as a 100 Club from the National Speech & Debate Association.
Model UN is a simulation of the United Nations in which students focus on foreign policy, creating solutions, and debating with other delegates (competitors). Representing a country or a historical figure, delegates discuss topics relating to UN agencies such as the World Health Organization. The Village School Model UN team has won the best large delegation at several conferences such as the Central Texas Model UN (a conference in UT Austin). Competing only two to three times a year, students take longer to prepare with tournaments taking several days.
“Model UN gives you the ability to understand issues and challenges that face all of us around the world from a global perspective while Speech and Debate allows you to speak your mind about an issue that you may be passionate about,” said Nirav Mandhani, a junior Model UN delegate since middle school and a Debate captain. They are both very uplifting in terms of self-confidence in public speaking, leadership, and intuition. “If you’re better suited to a more formalized and parliamentary style of debate that is more civil, go for MUN. If you like a bit more of a rowdy style of debate, consider Speech and Debate. Both of them are excellent choices regardless of which you choose.” Said Mandhani. If possible, students should try both to see where they stand in terms of skills and which they want to pursue if not both.
“Model United Nations has been an amazing experience that has strengthened my research, cooperation, and public speaking skills. I’ve met a lot of very interesting people, and it provides a stress-free environment to learn. I’ve only recently joined the debate, but the experience has been invaluable. The flexibility of the schedule and the independence we have has helped me to gain skills such as time management and improvisation.” Said Yiran (Annali) Zhao, a sophomore student in Model UN and Debate.
While there are other academic teams such as Mock Trial that can also build upon these skills, The Village School’s Speech & Debate team and the Model UN team are the most widely recognized across the state of Texas. They each boast new members each year with Model UN having tryouts each year. Both communities are supportive and help teach new people so that everyone gets as much as they put in. With such similarities between the two, the students should factor in which they will enjoy the most. Neither is a bad option so whether you become part of the National Forensics League or an Agent of Change, know you will build upon skills that will last for life.
