Rangeview’s very own speech and debate Team won their very first sweepstakes award at the DUDL City Championships. The Team is led by two captains, William Betchel Krueger, a sophomore and Mary Elizabeth Sekibo, a senior and coached by Brock EnnisFigueroa.
After a long hiatus from the Team over the past couple of years, the Rangeview team placed 3rd overall in Policy Debate. Despite this the Team having to rebuild its entire structure from the ground up, they consider where they are now to be an accomplishment.
“In many ways, it was a major win for the Speech and Debate Team in 2024. This was merely our second year participating in DUDL (Denver Urban Debate League), and seeing our tournament participation increase was incredible. Many of the upperclassmen had busy schedules and weren’t able to make it, but those who could helped to make up for seasonal deficits throughout the year,” Krueger said.
“I was honestly surprised to win the sweepstake because the Team was just starting to be more lively after the past two years. (…) I’m super proud of the work that has been done within the Team. At these tournaments we’re competing against people who have this as a class and are getting taught about Speech and debate daily,” Sekibo said.
As for Mr. EnnisFigueroa, “I am so proud of all the efforts put forth by each team member. A few years ago, we were a very small team and during COVID, we only had one person competing. Now, we are winning big awards and have picked up several small ones along the way, also! The current team members are the foundation for the team and I could not be prouder of each for them,” he said.
Many of the members of the Team made it to the finals. One student, Kaeden LaBelle, a sophomore, won first in Mock Congress. “It felt really odd because my round was really weird and I wasn’t expecting it but it was really fun,” he said.
Isabella Gallegos, also placed third in Mixed Speech with her original poem, “The Lily that Rose.”
With the Team doing so well this year, their plans for next year are to go even further. “We are really stepping it up next year, as it is every year, to win Nationals!” Mr. EnnisFigueroa said.
“I hope that this Team continues to grow not just member wise but build interest in the school. Lots of people joined this Team for [a] numerous amount of reasons but I genuinely want people to not leave the same way they came in,” Sekibo said.
“Assuming I am reelected for next year, I plan on extending our opportunities as a Team by participating in CHSAA next year, and hopefully training our members with a more formal structure to give people practice prior to participation,” Krueger said.
With these plans for next year, the speech and debate Team has a bright future ahead.
“Speech and Debate as a Team can sound intimidating, rather sounding like another responsibility for students. But putting in that effort can allow one to maintain communication skills and learn ways to engage in complex subjects on a regular basis. Speech and Debate is incredibly useful for building skills in researching, use of rhetoric, appealing to one’s emotions and developing literary understanding,” Krueger said.
The Team itself is actively growing to become something more and despite the intimidation and fear, they encourage people to join next year.
