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Current Program

Meetings

MVLASD hosts weekly meetings on the Mountain View High School campus, usually in the library, on Wednesdays from 7 pm to 9 pm. We have a satellite practice for speech and self-directed varsity debaters on Mondays from 7 pm - 9 pm at Los Altos High School. We look forward to seeing you there!

Events

MVLASD is excited to offer an array of events supported at the state and national levels. We offer multiple types of speech and debate events. Our students compete at both lay events, which are generally local events often characterized more by persuasive style, and circuit events, which tend to rely more on debate-specific techniques.

Debate

  • Lincoln-Douglas, a 1-on-1, prepared format centering around value propositions
  • Parliamentary, a 2-on-2, spontaneous format centering around current events propositions
  • Public Forum, a 2-on-2, prepared format, modeled on presidential debates

Speech/Individual Events

  • Original speeches, including advocacy, oratory, and poetry/prose
  • Interpretation, where students interpret previously-written texts
  • Spontaneous events, where students have a limited time to prepare a speech on a topic

Check our our Event Guide for more information!

Independent Study

MVLASD is proud to partner with both its constituent schools to offer an independent study program. Each semester students have an opportunity to earn 5 units of elective credit for participation on the team. This is not required, but many team members find it a useful way to demonstrate their commitment to the activity on resumes and applications. Please refer to our ISC Guidelines for more information. 

Service Project

MVLASD is committed to fostering an ethic of service among our students. Our club service project is the Youth Forensic League (YFL), an outreach program to provide a speech and debate experience for the middle schools that feed into our two high schools. Team members serve as coaches for weekly after-school meetings at the middle schools, preparing students to compete in middle school-specific events. Our team also holds an intramural tournament to nurture connections between the middle school programs and give students a low-key opportunity to try competing. Coaching in the YFL program can earn both documented community service hours and tournament participation credit (towards Independent Study Credit).

Memberships

MVLA is a member of several local, state, and national organizations dedicated to promoting speech and debate:

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