Up for Debate

Lead Before the winter of my 7th grade year, I wore a shell. It wasn’t a real shell, of course—more like one designed in my head. My shell kept me hidden, and I had no plan to leave it. Then one day my social studies teacher did something to crack the shell. “Anna, your mom and I have signed you up for debate club,” Mrs. Johnson said. “We know you have a strong voice inside you; it’s time to let it out.” Focus I couldn’t believe it—my teacher and my mom had conspired against me!

Later that week, I trudged into the first club meeting. I lifted a hood over my head as Mrs. Johnson explained the rules of a debate: Two teams are given a topic. One team will argue in favor and the other will argue in opposition. Sometimes each team member will speak, and sometimes the team selects one member to speak for the entire team. That’s not so bad, I thought. I’d just have to make sure I wasn’t my team’s speaker.

Transitions During the next meeting, Mrs. Johnson divided us into teams for a practice debate. “Okay, here’s what we should argue,” said Lacy, one of the most outgoing girls at school. She rattled off a bunch of points, some of them better than others. Then she looked at me and asked what I thought about her ideas. “I dunno,” I responded, looking at the ground.

To my horror, we all were required to speak during the debate. When it was my turn, my face reddened and my hands began to sweat. I mumbled some ideas and breathed a sigh of relief when my time was up. Our team lost, but at least I hadn’t thrown up. Afterward, Lacy said, “You made awesome points, but next time you need to share them. The rest of us would have been better prepared with your help.”

Rising Action Lacy’s advice made me realize something. I needed to stop acting miserable and give debate club a chance. I knew I had a lot of strong opinions, and I could build strong arguments. In fact, my team started winning practice debates when I led our preparation. Unfortunately, I retreated into my shell when I was called to debate. When I debated, it felt as if the lights would brighten, the room would shrink, and a million eyes would judge me.

Dialogue At the district competition, we breezed into the finals. But our final opponent was strong, winning the last three district championships. The closing statement would decide the champion, and my team needed to choose one speaker to deliver it. I quickly volunteered Lacy, since she was the best speaker. “No,” she responded. “It should be you. You know this topic better than anyone else.” The rest of my teammates agreed. I went as white as a ghost. There was no turning back.

Thought Details Before I stepped to the podium, I glanced at my team. They smiled and nodded at me. That let me know they believed in me, and if I didn’t believe in myself, I’d let them down. With renewed confidence, I stood up straight and delivered our closing remarks.

At the end of the school year, I asked Mrs. Johnson to save me a spot on next year’s debate team. “I’m happy you found your voice,” she said, smiling. Lesson Learned I thanked her for teaching me that good things can happen when you step outside your comfort zone. As I cleared out my locker for the summer, I threw away notebooks, old assignments, and broken pencils. I grabbed the invisible shell off my back and tossed that away, too. I did keep one thing, though—my district-champion debate ribbon.