Not even masks, social distancing, and virtual competitions have halted the success of the Trinity speech and debate team. Star members juniors Joseph Eng and Ben McBride, led by their head coach Ms. Amy Zuccaro, have overcome the changes imposed by the pandemic during the past two years.

“Speech has changed dramatically. It’s been impacted tremendously,” said Zuccaro regarding the changes due to COVID.

The club may be smaller now than in years past, but that hasn’t stopped them from boasting many awards this season. Eng and McBride both take part in the Public Forum Debate and won the state title at the Kentucky Catholic Forensic League State Tournament on Mar. 5. The two will compete in the national tournament over Memorial Day Weekend in Washington, D.C.

“We do a good job of communicating about how we’re going to approach things. We also do a lot of research, which is probably our best benefit,” McBride said.

The speech team competed in the Kentucky High School Speech League State Tournament Mar. 11-12. Zuccaro reported that McBride “advanced to the quarterfinal round in Impromptu Speaking (top 24 in the state) and placed sixth in the state in Extemporaneous Speaking! This was the first in-person tournament Ben has ever attended as he joined last year in the height of the pandemic.  This is also the first year Ben has ever competed in speech.  Not bad for a first go of it.”

Public Forum Debate is one of the 18 events in speech and debate competitions. In Public Forum, competitors must prepare to argue either side of a given topic and go head-to-head against other teams. They are then ranked both on speaking and how they perform in debate.

Eng has participated in speech and debate since his freshman year, and McBride began his sophomore year, although they have been able to harness skills from the club that they have been able to apply to the classroom as well as other activities, such as the Kentucky Youth Assembly and the Kentucky United Nations Assembly.

Both McBride and Eng strongly recommend joining the speech and debate team. “Speech and debate has really taught me to think on my feet, think about different topics from different standpoints, which has helped me in KYA and KUNA by making it easy for me to give speeches and know immediately what I’m going to say,” McBride said.

Eng also finds a lot of value in the skills that speech and debate has taught him. “This club really caters to any type of person. It helps your speaking abilities, argumentative skills, and has allowed be to think quickly on my feet. It also has helped on AP exams and allowed me to think quickly and write well.”

Zuccaro, the team’s experienced and decorated coach, has been involved with speech and debate since her youth.

“I’m a former competitor and started competing in the sixth grade,” she said. “When I went to college, they didn’t really have a team, so I volunteered and worked with local high schools and helped my friends who were working in the area, including Trinity.”

She revitalized the speech and debate club at Oldham County High School and has rejuvenated the Shamrocks squad. Zuccaro has earned a number of awards, among them the Kentucky High School Speech League’s Louisville Region Speech Coach of the Year and State Debate Coach of the Year in 2019.

Along with heading the team, Zuccaro also teaches a speech and debate elective class.

“I teach two public speaking classes, communication skills and speech and debate,” Zuccaro said. “Speech and debate is a class designed to generate interest in the club. We go through some of the events, which has also been a little difficult with COVID.”

Since the pandemic began, Zuccaro’s class isn’t the only thing that underwent changes. The structure of speech and debate competitions has seen changes.

She said, “For debate, it’s almost the same, but instead of being in person, they’re online. Everything is live; we still go through rounds. But speech has changed dramatically. Instead of going to a tournament, students record and upload videos.”

One of Zuccaro’s favorite things about coaching, be it online or in person, is seeing her speakers’ accomplish their goals.

She said, “I’m always so proud of my students for getting up and doing it. It takes a lot of courage. When they accomplish more than they think they can, it’s really rewarding.”