Q&A: Speech and Debate captain Chloe Norton
February 11, 2022
Chloe Norton is a sophomore who participates in a wide variety of extracurricular activities and leads others, including the Speech and Debate event, Impromptu speaking. In this event, she represents CHS as she reaches high levels of competition, such as state and national championships.
Lancer Link: What kind of extracurricular activities do you do at Carlsbad High School?
Chloe Norton: At Carlsbad High School I do Speech and Debate, I’m in Women in Stem club, I’m a member of the JV Academic League team, and in Speech and Debate. I’m a speech captain [and] the captain of the event Impromptu.
LL: As a captain in Speech in Debate, what do you do?
CN: As a captain I’m responsible for running the [Impromptu] practices, [and] I’m also responsible for listening to speeches and giving students feedback. I ensure that people know how to compete in the event and know how to compete well. I overall ensure that people just want to do well – that’s the most important thing I do.
LL: Do you have any ways to help motivate students in your event?
CN: In Speech and Debate, most of the people who participate are already very motivated students…I really want to create an environment that works to uplift students when they do well, and just uplifts students in general. That kind of environment is a great way to just motivate anyone to try to improve.
LL: What do you think you can take away from all of your experiences at CHS?
CN: I would say probably confidence and a lot of motivation. Speech and Debate has made me an incredibly confident speaker, and it’s boosted my confidence in general, just as a person, and getting to perform and talk about things I enjoy in front of people, is something that just has made me overall a more confident person. That ability, being able to speak in front of other people, is something that’s made me more motivated in general, it’s made me motivated to do well in school, and it’s overall improved my academic performance as well. It’s had a huge positive impact.