We weren't just letting ourselves down but also our coach. No one felt the weight of this as much as I did. As the student on our team that had been in speech and debate the longest, I should have been doing better than I was. Me, and the rest of the team, decided to work harder, do better and make our coach proud of us. For me this wasn’t a new feeling. I constantly felt bad that I wasn’t doing as good as I possibly could. I had finally hit my low point and was determined to succeed. There wasn’t much of the season left to improve, but that didn’t stop me from trying. One competition I was a few points away from making finals, the next I semi finaled. The biggest step that year was qualifying for state in Public Forum debate and Impromptu, two of my favorite events. At state me and my partner made octafinals in debate before being eliminated. At the NSDA district tournament, the competition that decides if you will make it to nationals, I was 2nd alternate in student congress.
Starting this year I placed 2nd in Impromptu at our first competition. The second competition I didn’t do as well and thus I’m working closely with my coach to prepare for the next competition, despite the fact that it is over a month away