Sophomore Earns Second Place at NHI’s Texas Great Debate

Sofia Garcia ’25 earned second place in Extemporaneous Speaking at the National Hispanic Institute’s 2022 Texas Great Debate at Schreiner University, which ran from June 11-14. Read the full article. NHI's Great Debate is a communication and leadership development program for ambitious and courageous young people committed to making meaningful change in the world. For over three decades, first-year NHI members have come to harness the power of their voices and engage with perspective-changing ideas. The Great Debate makes up NHI’s first-year curriculum, offering a rigorous learning experience for high-achieving, high-ability ninth grade youth who aspire to community and civic leadership roles in the future.

 

Extemporaneous Speaking is a speech competition where students are given a prompt and 30 minutes to prepare a five-minute speech, then present it. They are then asked a question by their opponent and have one minute to prepare and present an answer. When it was her turn, Garcia discussed Latino social narratives, which was an incredibly important topic for her, because growing up as a young Latina woman, society has many social narratives that shaped how she was viewed by her peers and ultimately how she viewed herself. Garcia said because of her upbringing, she is “very aware of how influential social narratives are on the Latino community and that is why she believes that sharing and shaping positive social narratives is critical.”

Garcia became interested in participating in the Texas Great Debate after her older sister, Eliana ’23, attended one of the programs and loved it. She said it was a great opportunity for her to expand her knowledge, practice her skills and embrace her culture. Garcia found a true passion for speech and debate and looks forward to continuing to participate in similar competitions.

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