Domination from within, the key to Ennis’s success in speech, drama and debate

“While speech is competitive, it's not an activity where you can win by overpowering another speaker. You really have to focus on improving your own presentation and learning from judges’ feedback,” said Ennis High School’s first year Speech Drama and Debate coach Erika Gibson after her team’s successful performance at the State Championship. 

“The hardest thing about speech and debate is that it is very subjective,” agreed sophomore Celee Klasna who was a standout for the team in the dramatic interpretation event this season. “Even in memorized speeches, results vary significantly each tournament. Speech and debate is so mental because one day everyone believes your speech is the best and the next you land somewhere in the middle of the pack and you have to keep reminding yourself that everyone’s opinion is going to be different.”

Gibson went into her first season with tempered expectations and a huge learning curve. 

“I started the season calling this a “growth year,” she explained. “If I’ve learned anything from professional sports, it’s that a new coach rarely sees success in their first year with a team. Yet, we had eight students qualify for state!  As I understand it, the Speech, Drama, and Debate team hasn’t taken that many students to state in a long while. It was great to see the parents and the school really show up to celebrate this accomplishment.”

Like any good coach, Gibson is quick to acknowledge that she couldn’t have done any of this without a ton of help. 

“I was incredibly lucky to inherit three seniors who are VERY dedicated to speech and more importantly, constantly wanted to one-up themselves,” she said. “My returning students, who I have dubbed the “OG Fam,” were incredibly helpful while I got my sea legs. Not only were they able to tell me about the way things operate in the South Division, they did a great job mentoring our new students. We had 4 returning students and 8 new students so getting everyone on the same page and ready for Tournaments was a little crazy, but we did it.”

 “We had one eighth grade homeschooler (yes 8th graders can compete), five freshmen, four sophomores (though two chose not to pursue the activity), and three seniors. Katie Barney (Memorized Public Address), Izzy Haas (Original Oratory she wrote her own speech), Kloey Noack (Humorous Interpretation), and Celee Klasna (Dramatic Interpretation) were my returning students and they were outstanding. At divisionals Katie came in second, losing to another student that I would say was her arch nemesis this season (don’t worry she beat her at state!), and the other three came in first in their division. Katie took second at state, and Izzy first.”

One of the reasons for the success was the team’s commitment to fundraising, one of which was to make and sell Butte style pasties which were delicious, and helped them spend more time together as a time than previous groups have. 

“This semester we raised almost $2000 to help pay for hotel stays for our tournaments farther away,” explained Gibson. “I think this was really helpful in building a strong team bond. It’s a small school, so everyone already knew each other, but we really got to work hard and play hard together, and it definitely had a positive impact.”

While the extra time together as a team helped, the real efforts that led to results were the amounts of practice time the competitors put in.  

“These girls subjected themselves to my scrutiny multiple times a week and when I thought it was perfect, they’d say they could do better! Their drive really set the tone for their teammates,” said Gibson when explaining the commitment of this year’s senior class. 

“All of my seniors practiced with me after school, during lunch, and sometimes during their free periods,” she continued. “Stop-and-Go coaching can be incredibly tedious. Imagine repeating the same line of dialogue over and over and over for 20 minutes.”

Gibson glowed with pride when describing what it felt like for her to watch that hard work pay off. 

“One of the speech events is called Impromptu Speaking,” she began. “In this event students are given three minutes to choose a topic and prepare a speech based on that topic which they have never seen before. They then have to speak for five minutes. I saw my Impromptu speakers make huge leaps in practice and in their rounds. While it seems like an event that relies on natural talent, it's actually a learned skill like any other type of speaking. It was incredibly fulfilling to see students catch on and realize they were good at the event! I’ll never forget having a student run up to me at Red Lodge and say ‘I used what we learned in practice!’”

While this is her first year as a coach, Gibson is a seasoned Speech, Drama and Debate competitor and enthusiast. 

“I am debater at heart and that was what I did in high school and community college. My university didn’t have debate so I joined Ethics Bowl, essentially group debates on ethics,” said Gibson. “Speech is about improving yourself, debate is about trouncing your opponent,” said Gibson as she explained that one of her primary goals is growing the debate portion of the team for next year. 

“I’d love to see us increase our debate team,” she said. “In our division we can only have three folks in each event to keep things fair, so if we want to grow the team, folks are going to have to move into the debate world.”

Gibson has a plan that she anticipates will help give new students were are interested in debate a chance to experience it before having to commit to signing up for the season. 

“I have two things I am very excited about for next year,” she started. “First, I will be holding a week long speech and debate camp before school starts next year. This will be an opportunity for new students who are interested to learn about all of the different events and pick an area of interest. For our returning students, it's a chance to hone their speaking, writing, and debate skills. I was fortunate enough to travel to different universities for summer camps when I was in high school and it was incredibly useful, so I want to try to replicate some of that for Ennis Students.”

“Second, I would like to do a travel competition somewhere out of state on a college campus,” she continued. “These events are such a good experience for improving their speech and debate skills and introduces them to students from across the country. It also lets them see a new town and spend some time on a college campus.”

While the team will no doubt miss the senior leadership that shined so bright this year, Gibson can already see next year’s team coming together. 

“Next year we will have a very young team because we have only three seniors and no current juniors on the team this year. Celee [Klasna] will be the team Matriarch/Captain as she will be in her third year. She's already looking through dramatic works for next year’s speech! I think future success will really rely on creating a strong team dynamic and fostering that sense of self- competition,” she concluded. 

On March 2 the team is hosting their community night where they will recognize this year’s team and take the next step of building towards the future.  

“Monday March 2, 6-7p.m. will be our community night at the high school,” she shared. “Students will be split into four rooms to present their speeches or do a truncated debate. This will last about 30 minutes. Directly following the ‘round’ we will have an awards reception with heavy appetizers and desserts. Students will receive their letters/pins and other awards. Special thanks to Ms. Diehl and her culinary classes for helping out with the reception prep. All are welcome at the reception.”