About the program
A competitive academic activity, run as a team sport.
Myers Park Speech & Debate is the speech and debate program at Myers Park High School in Charlotte.
What students actually do
Students research a topic, build a case for a position, and then defend it out loud against someone arguing the opposite, in front of a judge who decides which of them was more convincing. Others write and perform speeches, or interpret published work.
A tournament runs over a weekend, usually at another school. Competitors move through several rounds in a day, each one about an hour, each against a different opponent and judge. Results accumulate over the season, and strong performances can qualify a student for state and national competition.
Why it is worth the Saturdays
The activity asks for something school rarely does: take a position, be questioned on it by someone who disagrees, and answer in real time without notes to hide behind. Students learn to read quickly, structure an argument, listen precisely enough to find the weak joint in someone else’s, and hold their nerve while doing it.
It is also a team. Students prepare together, travel together, and judge their own younger competitors as they come up.
Debate. Speech. Congress.
Debate
Two sides, one resolution, and a judge who has to be persuaded in the room. Research-heavy, argued in pairs or alone.
Speech
Written, memorised, or prepared on the spot, then performed. Where a student learns what a room does when you hold it.
Congress
Students simulate a legislative chamber: writing legislation, debating bills and resolutions, and delivering persuasive speeches.
We host as well as compete
The Laird Lewis Invitational brings the region to Myers Park each autumn.
Hosting is its own undertaking: rooms, judges, tabulation, food, and a building full of visiting schools for a weekend. It is the clearest picture of what the program is, and it is run by the same families who register their students each autumn.