Harvey receives state speech and debate honor
The leader of a Starkville High School organization has been honored with a statewide award in September.
Speech and debate coach Sonya Harvey was named Speech and Debate Coach of the Year by the Mississippi High School Activities Association. Harvey has coached speech and debate at Starkville High School for three years, and has coached a total of 10 years across several schools in Mississippi.
“It's a high honor, because only one person in the state gets it every year,” Harvey said. “It also means that I'm nominated for a regional and national award through the National Federation of High School Activities. It just brings attention to our program.”
An English teacher, Harvey has been involved in speech and debate since she was 16.
“It drew me in,” Harvey said. “In high school, I competed with what is now my husband, and I just feel like it's a really important activity that helps prepare kids for real world things.”
Harvey said her team members had to research and stay abreast of current events, as well as be able to think on their feet.
In her time leading the team, Harvey has grown the organization from five to more than 20 members, and has begun participating in more tournaments.
"We've won awards," Harvey said. "We qualified for the National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament for the very first time for Starkville two years ago. We also qualified for that tournament last year, and I'm hoping we do so again. We've also qualified for the National Catholic Forensic League Tournament both years that we've been here, and expect to repeat that as well."
Junior Hannah Jian holds a first place award in original oratory, and other team members have taken home awards.
"I have coached teams who have won state championships in debate, and I believe Starkville has the potential to do that if we continue to grow and work hard," Harvey said.
Harvey said many off her speech and debate alums at SHS went on to top colleges including Harvard, Yale, Emory, Baylor and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"I'm personally very proud of Mrs. Harvey, because she very much deserves this award, and I can't really think of anyone who deserves this award more than her," said Jian, who has competed on the team for three years. "She's been with this team since the beginning, and she's put all of her time and her effort in building us up as a team. I'm just really proud of her accomplishments.”
Junior Mia Robertson, who is in her first year on the team said Harvey was deserving of the award.
"I definitely plan to continue doing speech and debate next year, because it has completely improved my public speaking as well as my confidence," Robertson said.