Mt. SAC Early College Academy (MECA) has many extracurriculars and clubs to offer to students. From Cat Club to Academic Decathlon, this school is bountiful with groups that anyone can join. 

This year, freshman Evan Barba joined MECA’s Speech and Debate team to learn to speak publicly. Evan explained one of the biggest reasons he joined was for his future career as a Military Officer, “you need experience because you will address the troops you command plus higher-up bosses (CENTCOM) and so you need to state your suggestions/present in a calm, articulate, and simple manner while also utilizing persuasion skills, and S&D teaches you these skills.” 

Evan’s experience in Speech and Debate was “Awkward, yet fun. [It’s] awkward because there are little freshmen in it, [and it’s] fun because you are with like-minded people.” One of his favorite memories was judging for a middle-school warm up tournament which Evan found especially inspirational. It taught him that being in Speech and Debate isn’t always about competing, but being the judge as well, explaining “ it gave me insight as to what the expectations were from them. This has definitely improved my performance overall when competing.”

Evan encourages students to join Speech and Debate, “I would highly recommend it especially if you are a freshman, the earlier you start the better!”.