For Katelyn “KJ” McJannet, a happy accident her sophomore year has been a part of the team building the Warrenton High School Speech and Debate Team, which she will always remember.

It is, as she recalls, emblematic of the closeness fostered within the team during her time with them.

“We misread the timestamps and were an hour early to Rock Bridge High School (for the COMO Classic Tournament),” McJannet said. “To pass the time, we wandered around an antique store and ended up buying a small flock rabbit as a team, naming him Watson after the "W" in Warrenton. Throughout the tournament, each of us took the rabbit into our rounds, and we had several lucky scores, from a first-place win in Poetry Reading to a second-place win in Radio Speaking. From then on out, we used Watson as our mascot and lucky charm.”

While the lucky charm has been an invaluable piece of the team’s lore the past couple of years, the guidance of coach Nick Metts and assistant Emily Romano has built the team from its fledgling days to the current team, which runs 27 students strong.

Metts said that towards the end of last school year, from when he served as a fill-in, to his current full-time role, he learned just as much from the students as they may have learned from him.

“(It) has been an extremely rewarding experience and position for me,” Metts said. “I get to see these kids do things that they love and enjoy outside of the classroom. For me, that’s the most rewarding part of my job, along with building strong, positive relationships with my students.

“From that (initial) moment on, I was hooked and knew I wanted to coach this team,” Metts continued. “I’ve had a number of these students in our program in class as well and spend several hours outside of school seeing them perform/compete in other sports and clubs.”

Metts said that the team’s captains have led the team to multiple placements at recent tournaments. He said that key focus areas for success have included Peer Mentorship, Research Leadership, and Community Building.

For debate captain Wade Petersmeyer, the team is far more than just a club.

Being a part of the team has helped him as a student in ways he never imagined, he said.

“Speech and Debate has been a fundamental piece of my scholastic experience,” Petersmeyer said. “Besides public speaking skills, competing in events like debate and extemporaneous speaking has taught me how to think on my feet and develop well-structured arguments. It has made writing essays a whole lot easier. Being on the team, especially as a captain, has caused me to grow in so many unique ways. I have become more confident in myself and learned to stand up for what I think is right.”

Team captain and junior Malia Hopper said that, as important as the program is scholastically, the effect it has had on her has reached a deeply personal level.

“Speech and debate has opened me up to new perspectives that have completely changed my point of view,” Hopper said. “I started in speech and debate as a shy kid who was afraid to speak to people. Because of speech and debate's impact, I'm now a leader in multiple organizations. Not only that, but my speech events have let me learn more about myself, my values, and even what I want my future to be like.

“This program has changed my academics overall,” she continued. “Through researching debates and different speech topics, I've gained insight into areas of the world I never gave much thought to before. This has made me learn a lot, and I've been able to apply this knowledge and the critical thinking skills I gained in all of my classes.”

Metts said that, even though he and Romano are the team’s mentors, his captains, McJannet, Petersmeyer and Hopper have played invaluable roles in the team’s growth and success.

“We had four kids qualify for the state tournament in Springfield, MO and I agreed to take them. Out of the 4 we took to state, 3 came home with medals, placing fifth, eighth, and 13th across the entire state of Missouri in their events,”

“The overall success of this team wouldn’t be possible without our captains,” Metts said. “They are the individuals who work countless hours to help make sure our program runs effectively and work with their teammates to run individualized practice sessions, provide feedback on debate cases and speech pieces, and so much more. My assistant coach and I are there to support them along the way. When all the students go out to compete, we really get to see them find their voices and share what they are passionate about.”