With about 50 different clubs to choose from, students have the opportunity to join various societies and groups to help them discover new interests and further their passions.

One of these many clubs include The Village School’s Speech and Debate Club, which has seen growth and success since last year. The club allows members to compete in city, state and national levels, giving them the opportunity to practice public speaking and become confident in debating and speaking in a structured matter.

“I think [speech and debate] has helped me a lot for so many different reasons,” junior Aman Kumar said. “For example…when I do presentations, I just imagine that it is like a debate round. Debate [also] helps so much with critical thinking, good quality argumentation, and… you get really good at thinking on your feet.”

The team practices weekly, including practice sessions on Skype. They compete on an average of two tournaments every month, including about two national level tournaments per semester.

Although the team has around 12 members, with only six actively competing, it has seen huge successes. Last year, juniors Adnan Fatakdawala, Aditya Ramesh Iyer, and Aman Kumar qualified for the Texas Forensic Association (TFA) State Tournament, and Iyer and junior Hajra Alvi also qualified for the National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament their freshman year.

Furthering their successes, the team also hopes to recruit more members next year in order to further the expansion of the debate program.

“Debate has changed immensely since I’ve last coached and have found it very informative and enlightening so far,” Marce Walsh, an English teacher and the Speech and Debate club advisor, said. “ I’ve had to adapt to new methods and am learning as I go.  We’ve already been to six tournaments this first semester and have even more scheduled for next semester. I would love to see the team grow and slowly, but surely, that is happening. I would like to see the club have a full-time coach, along with an assistant to allow us to do more traveling.”