Revere High School is preparing to hold the State Novice Speech and Debate Tournament within its building for the first time in the program’s history.

Coach John Kerezy, in his fourth year of coaching Speech and Debate at Revere, spoke about the history of Revere’s involvement in the tournament.

“Last year we took eight or nine novices to the State Novice Tournament at Medina High School, [and some did extremely well]. This year we have twelve or thirteen novices, and we have been doing extremely well. The students have worked hard and they have shown great improvement,” Kerezy said.

The State Novice Tournament, in which only first-year speech and debate participants can attend, is an opportunity for those participants to see how they compare to competitors of their same skill level.

“The big benefit [of participating] for us is growth and development. We have been stressing the importance of learning how to think critically, how to communicate effectively, and how to live humanely in an evermore challenging world and environment. The beauty of the state novice is that it sets the stage for [the kids] to be greater and more successful,” Kerezy said.

Tyler Ankrom, a sophomore in his first year in the program, spoke on this concept and his goals for the tournament. Ankrom participates in the Public Forum event, in which each student debates with a partner.

“The other team is going to mess up, but it is really about how I can’t mess up my argument, [the goal is] just to get [my] points across in a way that a judge can understand,” Ankrom said.

Szofia Wiksell, also a sophomore, commented on her goals for the tournament as well. Wiksell also participates in Public Forum.

“[I want to be] able to flow my cases better, show how one thing relates to another and be able to smoothly transition from one topic to the next,” Wiksell said.

The tournament will be held on March 11, 2017. The novices this year include Ankrom, Aditya Annamreddi, Joe Cifani, Ben Hunt, Claire Jimerson, Luciya Katcher, Alexander Landis, Samantha Ma, Nolan Moore, Julia Scott, Keri Tomechko, Michael Tomechko and Wiksell.