![SNAP HAPPY Recording on a GoPro for social media, senior Sam Mellon has recently started a weekly sports podcast. “[Senior] Brendan Feeney and I have been talking about doing a sports podcast forever. We love talking about sports and we just grabbed [senior] Will Hanas and went along with it,” Mellon said.](https://mhsnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/sam-892x1200.png)
![CONFIDENCE IS KEY. Rehearsing their speech in front of speech teacher Jordan Mayer, juniors Victoria Alvarez and Natalia Avila Rivera use sporadic movements to hold engagement throughout their speech. Rivera and Alvarez will be performing their speech “Survival Games” on Nov. 23 “Once we started, we got to advocate for things [we] are passionate about. For us, that was immigration and all the hardships [immigrants] are going through,” Alvarez said.](https://mhsnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DSC_0067-1200x800.jpg)
The speech and debate program is ranked #51 in the nation out of 3,000 schools by the National Speech & Debate association. Since its founding in 1965, the speech and debate program, with over 200 members, has earned several achievements like multiple national team titles, individual state champions and national recognitions like the National School of Outstanding Distinction award.
Varsity speech kicked off the season at Wheaton, Illinois on Nov. 8. Since then, they have been working together and practicing to improve. Teachers Ryan Kelleher and Jordan Mayer are coaches for the speech team, but Mayer is also involved with the debate team.
“Both speech and debate is practicing daily. We’re practicing after school, mainly for speech, and we’re practicing in the evening, mainly for debate,” Mayer said.
Both speech and debate encourage a peer coaching system. They operate with a big and little system, where the older student mentors the younger students. In speech, older and younger members are grouped together. Debate functions differently, with older members judging newer members.
“We have our varsity and travel team members come in with novices and then we run it by groups usually. We also have alumni that come in and they work with our travel team members,” Kelleher said.
Members of the speech team work together to improve. They practice in school at varying times throughout the week as well as once or twice a week outside of school. Debate follows a big and little system as well, but they don’t function exactly the same way.
“We have a system where older students are mentoring the younger students,” Mayer said. “We do mock rounds where the younger students are performing and the older students are acting as judges.”
Debate vice president, senior Brandon Walker, credits the frequent practices to the team’s recent success.
“I like to think that as vice president what I do is helpful because I try and get a lot of input from debate and then I kind of serve as a delegate for whatever they want,” Walker said.
His job as vice president means he is involved in administrative work, organizational work, and acting as a representative for the members of the debate team. With this, they are able to grow as a successful team where everyone is heard.
(Benjamin Schirz)
