India dinner celebrates talents of Wooster's speech and debate team

What do Policy Debate, International Extemporaneous Speaking, Oratorical Interpretation, Student Congress and Humorous Interpretation all have in common?
They are just a few of the 13 categories in which members of the Wooster High School Speech and Debate team compete each weekend from early fall through early spring.
The skills of these highly talented team members were on display when the Wooster High School Speech and Debate Parents Association presented its fifth annual India Dinner Feb. 10 at the Shisler Center.
The original concept for the dinner was to design a unique event that provided an opportunity for the members of the team to showcase their talents while increasing awareness of the program and raising money for the then newly established Speech and Debate Endowment Fund.
According to Ned Lauver, Wooster High School Speech and Debate Team head coach, the fund was started in January of 2006 with a goal of establishing a $200,000 endowment to support the program.
Lauver noted that interest generated from the endowment fund is used to support the speech and debate program in a variety of ways, including helping needy students who otherwise could not afford to participate in the program.
“If a student can’t purchase competition dress or needs some help paying a particular tournament fee, the interest from the endowment fund makes it possible for those students to compete,” noted Lauver.
He said money from the endowment is also used to subsidize the cost of the summer camps debate competitors attend to keep their competitive edge and to offset the costs of attending an event near and dear to Lauver’s heart: the national tournament.
“I never get tired of bragging about this. Wooster, Ohio, holds a national record in speech and debate,” said Lauver. “Of any high school, public or private in the country, Wooster High School has more appearances at the national tournament than other school in the nation.” At 58 appearances, Wooster is followed closely by another Ohio school, Dayton Oakwood, which currently has 57 appearances at nationals.
During the entertainment portion of the dinner, guests heard a brief description of the different categories in which the students compete. Students presented a portion of their competition pieces during the tournament season.
One of the event organizers, Parwinder Grewal, noted that the India Dinner showcases the talents of the students to the larger community and “gives them the opportunity to speak and perform in front of a large real audience,” which is something they rarely have the chance to do.
Grewal noted that the dinner also serves as a very effective recruiting tool for future team members, providing exposure for Wooster’s highly successful team to a wider audience.
It’s also often the only opportunity that speech and debate parents have to see their own student in action, as most serve as volunteer judges for tournaments, only one of which is held here in Wooster. During the rest of the tournament season, team members travel throughout Ohio and as far away as Illinois and Kentucky competing against some of the top speech and debate teams in the nation.