BANQUETE, Tx — Banquete High School students Ezequiel Baltitierra and Henry Charba are both on the speech and debate team and they are celebrating a big win.
Both students recently came back from a trip to Austin where they competed at the UIL Congress State Championship for the Congressional Debate.
"It’s cool, it's really cool to see Banquete up there, it is good that we have a really strong debate program," Baltierra said.
"It was just accelerating, we won one competition and now we are fighting the best in Texas," Charba said.
Baltierra placed second in the state and won Outstanding Presiding Officer, and Charba placed State 3A Champion.
"It was almost 12 hours of debate if anything a little more, and during that time we just debated pieces of legislation that students had proposed," Baltierra said. "We gave speeches saying either, if we supported that legislation or that we didn’t support this piece of legislation, and we would vote at the end of each cycle of speeches."
"We are standing on the shoulders of giants of people who have been here before, our couches helped us and technically we have been preparing for this competent for a month or two," Charba said.
Both students say took home more than just medals.
"Ever since I joined debate, before this I was terrible at talking to people, I had terrible anxiety but now it does help calm those anxieties," Baltierra said. "It also makes me a more effective communicator, and past that the whole debate fear really gives me a more open mindset."
Even though it is not the high school’s first rodeo going to state, Charba said he hopes he and his partner can make a great impact on the school.
"If you look at our high school commons, there are banners everywhere of people who have earned medals and it is my hope, that Izzy and I get our banner one day with all that we have done," Charba said.
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