Matawan Regional Speech & Debate Team to Compete at Nationals Next Week

The seniors of the speech and debate team started their season with one goal in mind. No matter what, they absolutely had to make sure their coach Gail Bauwens ended her coaching and teaching career on a high note.

"We knew that one of us had to do it, because we weren't going to let her retire without a shot at a national title. That was a huge motivating factor throughout the entire season," said Megan Maloney, a senior on the team.

Thirty years ago in the spring of 1972, Bauwens was a student teacher at the high school and had recently joined the speech and debate team at her school.

"I was a speech and theater major. I had a great teacher who said I think you should try it, and I did and I liked it. I was very competitive, enjoyed athletics. I loved competing and this is academic competition," Bauwens said.

The rest is history. While a student teacher, she started the speech and debate team at the high school and later became a teacher there. Since then, minus a short break in the middle to raise a child, Bauwens has been teaching students that speech and debate is much more than a group of students arguing hot-button issues.

"There is a debate component and there are different types of debate we do," Bauwens said. However, she explained, aside there are also ten categories of speech for students to compete in.

There are Lincoln-Douglas debates, public forum debates with two-person teams, policy debate, poetry readings, short stories, oratory which is self-written and persuasive, dramatic interpretation which can involve one or multiple characters, humorous interpretation, dramatic duo which is two people playing the role of several characters at once, declaration, extemporaneous speaking which involves knowledge of current national and international events, and improvisation.

Bauwens has taken 59 team members to nationals over her career as a coach. By the end of next week, she will have brought a grand total of 62. Senior Megan Maloney will compete in humorous interpretation, senior Anthony Holiday will comepete in dramatic interpretation, and freshman Ananya Joshi will compete in extemporaneous speaking. The three students qualified for the National Forensic League National Speech and Debate Tournament after placing first in their respective categories at the NJ District National Qualifying Championship in March.

Each competitor is guaranteed six rounds of competition, Bauwens explained. As the week progresses, the state champions from across the country are weeded out one by one, until six remain. Out of the six, a national champion is selected. There are also consolation events and supplemental events for students to compete in if they are knocked out early.

"I don't want to put pressure on them but my hopes are very high for the three of them," Bauwens said. Before every competition, she likes to remind them to really enjoy what they are doing.

"I tell them, go and have fun," she said. "They put enough pressure on themselves and I don't need to add to it. Especially for the seniors, this is your last time. Do your piece and enjoy doing your piece. Don't feel like you need to get to finals for me, enjoy your moment. If you make it to finals you do, if you don't you don't. You've already won because you are a state champion."

Bauwens finds that students who participate in speech and debate go on to have strong careers in the fields of their choosing because they have developed and fine-tuned their communication skills. As she reconnects with alumni from the beginning of her coaching career, she is discovering that many have gone on to become doctors, environmental and government attorneys, and CEOs at large companies.

"It's amazing where these kids end up and it's all because they've had this wonderful experience of perfecting their public speaking skills. These kids are not intimidated by speaking and are very well versed," Bauwens said. "I don't like patting myself on the back, but I have one after another who tells me, 'It's because of speech and debate.'"

Maloney found that over the last four years she not only perfected her public speaking, but she also gained self confidence.

"I don't know what I would do without it because before I did speech I was kind of shy. I didn't really know how to express myself in front of people I didn't know," she said. "Having that support gives you that confidence and it's a really nice environment to build and grow in high school. It helps you in everything."

In the fall, Maloney will attend Seton Hall University where she earned a scholarship for speech and debate. Joining a collegiate team is a little scary, she admits, but she's ready to begin studying marketing and theater.

"It's really exciting, but really nerve-racking at the same time," Maloney said.

The excitement and new found confidence in students like Maloney is one of the aspects of teaching and coaching that Bauwens will miss the most when she retires in June.

"You develop such wonderful relationships," she said. "It's a lot of time you spend with them. I feel like I'm leaving my children. I have a showcase every April and I cried there because that was my last one. They mean the most to me, the students and helping them grow."

No matter how the three state champions do at nationals next week, it is evident that the strong bond the team has formed will last.

"She can be hard on you, but only in the most constructive ways," Maloney said. "She's amazing. She's like my other mom. I think I speak for the entire team when I say she's the mother of the entire speech and debate team."