CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A local high school student is representing not just her school and South Texas but the United States for the USA National Debate team.
Her name is Genevieve Cox and she's a senior at W.B. Ray High School. Her journey to representing the U.S. for debate has been more than six years in the making.
“I feel really honored to represent not only you know the United States on an international stage but also South Texas,” said Genevieve Cox.
She joined Speech and debate in the 6th grade and last year she was a runner up champion at the National Tournament of Champions. She is now ranked 5th in the nation, an accomplishment that has not gone unnoticed by her teachers.
“We have never had anyone go that far or perform at that level or perform for that long,” said Walter Perkins who is a teacher at Ray High School.
Her main event is The Congressional Debate where she has had the opportunity to travel The United States to compete.
“Thats where a lot of my big trophies come from competitions hosted at colleges like Harvard, Yale, and even high schools like Glenbrook North High School in Chicago, ” said Cox.
The congressional Debate has twenty students in a room where they are given current topics to debate on and gives them an idea of how the real Congress works.
“So we have pieces of legislation that are presented to us about domestic or international topics. You go up and give three-minute speeches whether you want to pass or fail it and then at the end you take a vote,” said Cox.
Since joining Speech and Debate Genevieve says this opportunity has helped her grow and gave her a chance to step out of her comfort zone, and she encourages others to do the same.
“But I think it also allows you to broaden your horizons and especially be expose to opinions that maybe you wouldn’t get where you are from,” said Cox.
Her next tournament is called the Euro open and she will be presenting in mid-November via zoom.
