After Friday, May 27, most students will be finished with school and on summer break, but for a select group of students, the real break won’t come until almost three weeks later.

The speech and debate team will send eight students to Nationals, which will be held in Dallas, Tx. from Monday, June 13, to Saturday, June 18. This team of eight will be the largest team MHS has sent to Nationals in seven years.

Aaron Malin, senior, said having a big team comes with big advantages.

“First, more people means more brainpower to combine when doing research, crafting arguments or holding practice debates,” Malin said. “Second, success is measured on a team level at tournaments based on the total number of debate rounds won, so more people means more wins, which leads to more team success. Finally, a bigger team is a bigger family and that environment fosters competitive success on not only a team level, but an individual one as well.”

Dennis Kane, head coach, said so far this year, the speech and debate team has been very successful.

“We had lots of first, second and third places and we have a mess of trophies,” Kane said. “It’s a pretty big display and it’s just from this year.”

Kuykendall said she couldn’t be happier for the team.

“Not only have we qualified more people this year than any time in the recent past, but we’ve done it with substantially more student leadership and coaching,” Kuykendall said. “I think that it really showcases the talents of all the kids on the team. We’ve all worked really hard this year and it definitely paid off.”

Kane said he hopes the team will compete very well at Nationals, but how far they will go is unpredictable.

Gummi said he is most excited about the competition he will have at Nationals.

“We’re going to see and face people from all over the country,” Gummi said. “My goal would be to make it into outrounds, which is kind of like the playoff rounds.”

The speech and debate team has been preparing since the summer with camps and by going to tournaments and will continue to research, write debate cases, prepare arguments and hold practice rounds until June.

Kane said Nationals is the experience most debaters look forward to their entire careers.

“This is the best learning opportunity that I could ask for,” Kuykendall said. “I get to compete against and watch the best debaters in the nation for a whole week.”

Despite the intimidation of the national event, Kane said the team will work hard, but have a good time.

“Whatever happens, they’ll have the time of their life,” Kane said.

The MHS debate team will compete in the MHSAA state tournament on Saturday, April 16.