Each year, MCPS High School Speech and Debate teams compete at the national tournament, and this year all three teams will travel together to Dallas, Texas in June.

Missoula Sentinel English teacher and Speech and Debate Team coach Meredith Britt said the combined Missoula team will face the best in the country.

“The kids will be competing with other students from around the country in different debate circuits,” said Britt. “In speech and debate we have several different events. There are eight different speech events and four debate events. It’s much like track and field where you have sprinters and distance runners, and we have lots of different types of speaking and debating events that fall into different categories.”

Britt said she has at least one student for whom she has high hopes at the national meet in Dallas.

“In my coaching career I’ve only been coaching for about six years and I’ve had students advance to the semi-finals in Congressional Debate,” she said. “That seems to be where Sentinel High School does the best. I think Madeline Braun, my senior Congressional debater, this is her second year going to the national tournament, so she knows how it runs now, and I have high hopes for seeing her in the semi-finals and maybe even the finals.”

There will be a Speech and Debate Showcase fundraising dinner for the combined teams from Sentinel, Big Sky and Hellgate this Saturday, May 11 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Sentinel High School Cafeteria where there will be spaghetti, desserts and auction items up for bid.

The students will travel to Dallas, Texas on June 15 and return on June 22.

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