Welcome to the web site of the Durham Academy speech and debate team. Speech and debate is a great way to develop public speaking and critical thinking skills, and it's a lot of fun. The DA team has been very successful in recent years, winning first or second among small schools in the state championship the past two years.  Individual team members have won major national competitions such as the Harvard University tournament and the University of Florida tournament, and have reached the final round of the national championship tournament. 

See some pictures of the team below!

We offer three practices per week, though most students attend one or two, depending on their schedules.  You can find us in Room 225, a/k/a Mr. Biersach's room, on Monday evenings (6 to 7:30), or Wednesday and Thursday afternoons (3:30 to 5). When they're ready, team members compete in speech and debate tournaments throughout North Carolina, testing their skills against debaters from other schools.  Varsity-level competitors have the opportunity to travel to national competitions, usually on university campuses.

Take some time to explore our web site, which contains information about the various speech and debate events, as well as our tournament schedule and results from tournaments we've attended. If you're not already a member of the team, and think you might like to join, stop by one of our practices. There are no try-outs, and we're always glad to have new team members. 

Awash in Awards after the Cary Academy Tournament!