Imagine giving a speech on an unfamiliar topic completely on the spot. This is a skill that sophomore Luna Bouhairi has mastered and applies every time she competes at a speech and debate tournament.
Bouhairi is Northwood’s informal improvisational preparation captain and recently won eighth place nationally in the impromptu category at the National Speech and Debate Association’s tournament. Bourhairi is passionate about competing in Limited Preparation, a category of speech and debate where the speaker is given a prompt only minutes before they deliver their presentations.
“I really like the expression in speech and debate and the opportunity to listen to others,” Bouhairi said. “Even when I’m not in the process of debating or giving a speech, I get to listen to other people’s ideas and gain new perspectives.”
After discovering a flier at the Irvine Global Village Festival for the ModernBrain speech and debate academy, Bouhairi was inspired to join and, through the program, transformed herself into a dedicated and passionate public speaker. After having the chance to train her skills, Bouhairi took the opportunity to begin competing at Northwood.
Excelling at competitions like NSDA only comes after hours of practice, preliminary research and hard work. But as a captain, Bouhairi also has to balance this with the tricky task of coaching other speakers to help hone their skills.
On the day of the tournament, Bouhairi steadies her nerves by munching on Sour Patch Kids, drinking a healthy amount of Ice sparkling water and putting somewhat unconventional strategies to good use.
“Before rounds, we do this thing called talking to walls,” Bouhairi said. “We literally face a wall, pretend everyone around us doesn’t exist and perform. It helps with confidence because the technique is known to be a little embarrassing. But if you can talk to a wall and ignore the weird stares you get from people around you, you can do anything in-round without the fear of looking ridiculous, even if it’s in front of a large audience.”
When the time finally comes for her to give her speech, Bouhairi must understand the prompt and use limited information to craft a cohesive and understandable narrative under a pressing time limit. Many may buckle under the pressure, but Bouhairi is able to overcome her fear by focusing on being deliberate with every single one of her words.
“One of the methods of effective communication is not only saying the information clearly but also being able to make it like a story,” speech and debate coach Zane Pang said. “One of Luna’s unique qualities is being able to tie in all of these different threads together to create a cohesive narrative.”
Bouhairi’s unyielding desire to learn new things allows her to hone skills such as public speaking, time management and collaboration. Before a tournament, Bouhairi spends several hours researching recent issues to prepare if her prompt is based on a current, controversial topic.
“Speech and debate educates me on topics that I wouldn’t have known beforehand,” Bouhairi said. “I get to gather information and listen to what others think. Instead of listening to the things that impact me, I get to listen to what impacts others.”
Bouhairi continues to master her speaking skills in preparation for future national speech and debate tournaments such as the Jack Howe Memorial Tournament in late September. She is also open to becoming a dedicated speech coach when she is older to help students become passionate about speech and debate.
“I’m not exactly sure what my future holds, but I think that I would definitely want to continue speech and debate as a hobby,” Bouhairi said. “I want to carry what I learned in high school with me and hopefully educate the future generations on this amazing activity.”
