Led by coach Lindsey Torres, the team quickly built momentum, with students traveling to tournaments across Northern Nevada and competing against schools from Sparks, Carson City, and Reno.

Torres brings valuable experience to the program, serving as an instructor at Lake Tahoe Community College, where she teaches public speaking. Her background in developing coursework, coaching student speakers, and working with a wide range of learners has helped shape the foundation of the DHS program.

Despite being a new program, several students qualified for district competition, an impressive accomplishment for a team still building its foundation. Competitions often require long days of preparation and performance, with students delivering speeches, debating complex topics, and competing in multiple rounds.

The team also recently represented Douglas High School at the Rotary Club of Minden Speech and Debate Competition, where all three DHS competitors placed. Jack Esterby earned first place and a $250 award, Sydney “Kai” Stroud placed second, and Kennedy Torres took third. Jack will advance to the next level of competition.

Students say the club has been both challenging and rewarding.

“It’s all just a lot of fun,” students shared, noting that competitions allow them to meet people from other schools while learning about a wide range of topics.

For Sydney “Kai”, an 11th grader and one of the club’s student leaders, speech and debate has also helped build confidence.

“I would recommend speech and debate even to people who struggle with social anxiety,” Stroud said. “There are going to be a lot of students you compete against who struggle with that too, and it actually helps.”

Club members say they are proud of what they’ve built in just one year and are already looking ahead to growing the program. With tournaments, leadership opportunities, and the chance to develop public speaking and critical thinking skills, the team hopes to welcome many new members next year.

“Everyone’s welcome,” students emphasized as they encouraged others at DHS to consider joining the team.

With a successful first season behind them and new competitions ahead, DHS Speech and Debate is already proving to be an exciting addition to the school’s activities.