One Clap Speech and Debate
One Clap Speech and Debate is a resource for Speech and Debate coaches and competitors. We interview heroes of the Speech and Debate community about the transformative power of the activity and work to provide free and helpful content for Speech and Debate enthusiasts. Lyle Wiley, an English teacher and Speech and Debate Coach in Thermopolis, Wyoming, hosts the show.
One Clap Speech and Debate
Camp One Clap 2, Episode 3: Balance, Resilience, and Advocacy with Breanna Wollman - 2024 NSDA Student of the Year Finalist
6:3 - Camp One Clap 2024: Day 3
For notes and details about the episode, check out the website here:
https://www.oneclapspeechanddebate.com/post/camp-one-clap-2-episode-3-balance-resilience-and-advocacy-with-breanna-wollman-2024-nsda-stude
Join us at Camp One Clap as we welcome back South Dakota Speech and Debate star Breanna Wollman, who shares her journey from a nervous freshman to a triple threat champion in Original Oratory, Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking, and Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Breanna opens up about her fascination with the horror film "The Conjuring" and assesses her survival skills in a hypothetical apocalypse scenario, emphasizing the critical role of communication.
Balancing competitive pressure with personal enjoyment is no easy feat, especially for seniors in high school. In this episode, we reflect on the valuable lessons learned in Breanna's speech and debate journey, emphasizing the importance of remembering why you started and finding joy in the process. Breanna shares her insights on navigating leadership and performance expectations, the significance of grace from coaches and peers, and how a focus on fun can lead to surprising success. Finally, we explore the transformative power of speech and debate as tools for activism and personal growth. Don't miss it!
If you’d like to join the discussion here at One Clap Speech and Debate, shoot me an email at lylewiley@gmail.com or reach out here on the website.
You could also contact me on social media:
Facebook: @oneclappodcast
Instagram: @one_clap_podcast
TikTok: @oneclapspeechanddebate
YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCyvpV56859lLA-X-EvHVYUg
Your voice matters!
Get your cool One Clap Speech and Debate merchandise here (now featuring hats!): https://www.bonfire.com/store/one-clap-speech-and-debate/
Hey campers, it's another lovely day here at the Clapocalypse Camp One. Clap Two on the One Clap Speech and Debate podcast is back and today we'll have a visit from South Dakota superstar and NSDA student of the year finalist, brianna Woolman. I'm your camp director and host of the One Clap Speech and Debate podcast, lyle Wiley. I hope everyone is ready to face any horrors that might stand in their way and share their voices with confidence and joy this season. Quick reminder check the One Clap socials for today's social media challenge. It's been a lot of fun to see folks out there engaging and I hope you keep it up. Let's learn a little bit more about our guest on today's show, who's back for Camp One Clap.
Lyle Wiley:After being a counselor on the podcast last year, brianna Wollman is a speech and debate powerhouse acting as a triple threat in the events Original Oratory, domestic Extemporaneous Speaking and Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Brianna competed on the South Dakota circuit for Aberdeen Central High School. She's a two-time original oratory state champion, as well as the Lincoln-Douglas state champ this year. Aside from being her school's first four-year qualifier at nationals and ranking fifth nationally in NSDA points, she was a student of the year finalist this season. This fall, brianna will be a freshman at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, studying political science, with aspirations to serve on Capitol Hill one day. All right, well, we better jump right into my interview with speech and debate superstar Brianna Woolman. So welcome back to Camp One Clap, brianna Woolman. It's so great to have you back on the podcast after another dominant year in speech and debate for you.
Breanna Wollman:Well, thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be back.
Lyle Wiley:Yeah, you've stumbled upon the Clapocalypse this year here at. Camp One, clap Two, but we're so glad you're here, maybe you can help us out. I want to set the tone for our theme this year by maybe opening up about fear a little bit. What's your favorite scary story? Give me like a movie, book, spoken story okay.
Breanna Wollman:Um, I'm not gonna lie, I especially with like scary movies. I can't watch too many of them because when I was younger, like I was really like unnecessarily afraid of ghosts so and it like sticks around sometimes too. But, um, the best like scary movie I've ever watched, just because it made me think a lot, was probably like the original Conjuring movie. Um, I think like the whole series is good, but like the film quality too. It's I'm not like a huge like film nerd, but like the quality of that movie and then just like the actual storyline that was derived from it's just, it's just like a really crazy movie. It just makes you think a lot about the existence of the supernatural. So it's not like necessarily my favorite because it's like oh, it's fun to watch, but it's. There's just a lot behind it that I appreciate about the movie, even if it probably gave me nightmares the first time I watched it yeah, yeah, that's a.
Lyle Wiley:That's a spooky one yeah, one of the things I do appreciate about the horror genre is that you get to explore spiritual stuff and religious stuff and a lot of like interesting themes. It's kind of hard to explore in other genres. But yeah, you have to do it at the expense of, like, uh, stuff that's scary and extreme nightmare fuel. So maybe I don't know- yeah it's a good one.
Lyle Wiley:so, speaking of the apocalypse, um, if there was like an actual apocalypse, like a we're like wandering around in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, um, like something out of a dystopian novel On a scale of one to 10, how likely are you to survive?
Breanna Wollman:I really wish I could say that this number is higher, but it's probably not. I used to love the show the Walking Dead, but if there's anything that would be told me is that I genuinely would not have what it takes to survive. I'm sure that being in that circumstance it hardens you and because you have to like change what it means to live and like the things you have to sacrifice is whatever, but I like the thing, the sacrifices you have to make. They're a lot and I just I have an extremely weak gut, like the percent of zombies I think would probably take me out. So I'm going to go a solid three or four. I don't have much faith in myself, but I know I'm hopefully never in that situation where I have to survive an apocalypse.
Lyle Wiley:So yeah, no kidding, Right Like, yeah, I don't. I don't think that I would be the most useful uh, do you have, do you have? Any like skills that you'd bring to the table, like any you know?
Breanna Wollman:uh, I don't know skills that would be useful well, um, if there's anything the walking dead told showed me, is that communication, even in a post-apocalyptic world, is really important when you're dealing with, like other groups that you come in, um face to face with. So I think I would be able to like um communicate. You know my speech and debate skills, but, uh, that's about it. Um, not much for, not much of a hunter. Um, I probably would have a really hard time at first, like doing what it takes to survive in terms of killing like zombies or something Apocalyptic world. But yeah, I don't know, I can communicate, that's about it.
Lyle Wiley:Yeah, yeah, well, hey, listen, they're going to need communicators, so I think that's a valid skill. But yeah, no, I think I will find probably interviewing, speech and debate folks that many of us may not feel comfortable with our skill level in the apocalypse. But we'll find out, maybe we'll find some people. So, oh my gosh, what an incredible year for you. It's your senior year this year, right, brianna? And so you went out on the national stage as a finalist for the NSDA student of the year. Like, wow, what an honor. Tell us about that experience at Nats. What was that like? How'd you find out about your, you know, being announced as a finalist? Like, what was that like?
Breanna Wollman:Oh, well, well, thank you first of all, but, uh, the experience was great. I think that the people that work for the nsda the primary person that I worked with her name was, uh, annie, and she is like just incredible at her job. Like I told her that to her face, it's um sometimes getting people that are like naturally comforting, especially in positions where they're working with, especially like terrified and nervous people like all the student of the year finalists were walking into. That interview is really important and Annie, she, she just did a fantastic job but um it it was um a really cool experience and it kind of set up the tone for the rest of the week and the nerves a little bit.
Lyle Wiley:On.
Breanna Wollman:Sunday before all competition, like when people were checking into the expo. So we did our interviews. They also did some filming, things like making the hype video for the student of the year finalists, the hype video for the student of the year finalist and, um, unfortunately I am not immune to nsda propaganda. Get me a good hype video. I will be a million times more excited to be there than I originally was. Um, hype videos, just they. They have that effect on me. Um, but that was seeing your face on like a screen and play on a video played in front of so many people. It's, it's just insane. But also meeting the other finalists was really cool. Um, the person who won student of the year um, medium. He is from south dakota like we had two finalists this year from south dakota. He is incredibly and it was just really cool being able to watch him tell so much hate in their hearts for Des Moines, iowa, but coming from the Midwest.
Breanna Wollman:That drive was extremely short. We drove to Louisville, we drove to Phoenix. This drive we did it in half of a day, so that was awesome and they had so many great food options. We ate Korean barbecue I. They had so many great food options, like we ate Korean barbecue, I door dashed Indian food we ate at, like this Chinese place or I think it was Thai actually, but it it was fantastic Like there was so much. Like I understand, like the critiques about Iowa not having as much culture as other places, I think in terms of affordability, which is something a lot of school or the nsda should consider, when choosing a national site was really like it's.
Breanna Wollman:It was a huge pro. That can't be ignored. Inclusion that's.
Lyle Wiley:That's was great yeah, I was similarly like disenchanted with the idea of going to des moines, iowa for two years in a row, but also likewise pretty impressed with the experience. Like I thought, they did a pretty nice job, and Des Moines was was surprisingly pretty pretty great place to hang out with a bunch of amazing students.
Breanna Wollman:And driving in Des Moines is so easy too. Like I, I would have felt comfortable driving the van. I'm not going to lie.
Lyle Wiley:That's a big deal, though right For us as less urban folks like, going to a place like Des Moines was way less intimidating. Yeah, so I'm glad you had a great Nats experience and it was just the cap of another really great season for you. What were some of your highlights and some of the memories that you're going to treasure from your entire high school speech and debate experience?
Breanna Wollman:So I think that something that is. It's really unfortunate that competitors like lose sight of a lot and I've definitely also lost sight of this so many times in so many different tournaments this year and like before this year but we get so focused on like feeling the pressure to do well, like especially, um, like the feeling I feel like it's kind of inevitable, like disappointing like your, your younger peers as an upperclassman or your coaches, and you just like lose sight of what's important in this activity and it's having fun. Um, in the tournaments. Before I could remember like I have like incredible issues with stress and that's one of the things that defined this year, especially the beginning half for me, unfortunately, because I let it control the way I felt too much, but I've had like really bad stress, ulcers from speech and debate, and that's not something I'm proud of admitting. But going through this year I was able to like give my get a tiny bit better at getting myself breaks when necessary. So I know you mentioned the highlights, but we're getting to a happy point. I promise is that the highlights for me this year were the tournaments that I was able to remember that I do this activity because I like it and not because it makes me incredibly stressed out, and even if I don't perform the way I want to, that I'm not disappointing people around me and it seems like it's it's a mental highlight. But, um, those are just as important than like accolades and stuff because at the end of the day, like your senior year, there's so much pressure, like internally and externally on a high note, to be a student that, um, coaches and competitors and like an entire state uh, will remember for years to come. But at the end of the day, sometimes you, you just have to do all you can do in an activity, try your best, um, be kind to other people, and if that will even impact, then then so be it. That's awesome.
Breanna Wollman:But sometimes I, especially this year, got lost and the reason I do this activity and refinding that was probably a huge highlight. It's not a specific event, it was something that happened over a long period of time with short growth, but. But I feel that going into college this year I can remember to pull that in. But I also just had so much fun with my friends at tournaments. This year I was able to convince one of my best friends, who never did speech and debate in her entire life to come and do oratory for our team. So she came and traveled with us. Literally most of my closest friends were there at tournaments and it was so awesome going from around that I feel like I stuttered too much when I was giving my exam speech or phrased my question wrong, reciting it and things like that. And just go back and see their faces and laugh and remember the reason why I'm there for connection that's uh, that's like really mature and, um, awesome stuff to share with us.
Lyle Wiley:That is like hard to learn, like really hard to learn. I think it's, I think our. I mean I don't want to get too deep here, but the there's some cultural issues with us sort of seeing worth in people based on what they produce instead of who they are.
Breanna Wollman:And I think in our activity, more than any activity, we need to keep trying to communicate that to people, that their worth is not based on how well they do do, especially in an activity in comparison to like a lot of athletics, where it's a whole team, it's like people pitted against another or quote-unquote pitted against another, like individual person, and it's. It is really hard balancing that because especially um and it was the case for me and, I'm assuming, a lot of other competitors, but you don't realize that until you genuinely like hit the bottom, feeling like extremely exhausted and stressed out and like not enjoying um, what you used to love so much, because you made it something way bigger and angrier than it was. Like debate. Debate is serious, it can I. I love this activity.
Lyle Wiley:It was like the devotion of my high school experience, but at the end of the day it is just an activity and remembering that is crucial yeah, I mean we're all pretty competitive, um, but I think, if you let that overtake what it is like, which is an activity that's meant to to help students give a give the give an opportunity to say what they care about and and talk about things that are important and use their voice.
Lyle Wiley:It's like if the competition becomes front and center, I think things can get pretty hard for people, especially seniors. I think you really are putting a. This is good for coaches to understand, like it's something I've learned over coaching that, like the senior year is a tough year for people with expectations put on them after they've had success. Um and there. So they have leadership expectations, they have performance expectations. Um, you kind of start to assume, as a coach, that certain competitors are going to be able to produce certain results I think, it's pretty dangerous yeah, it really is.
Breanna Wollman:Those expectations can like take the spark out of a competitor so quickly because, um, maybe their goals for a season change and if those goals aren't reflective of, like exactly like you said, success they've had in the past, it can be really challenging for someone to actually go after what they want instead of the expectations like put upon them, not not only by coaches. Sometimes it's like I mentioned earlier it's it's younger classmates and peers that can look at a competitor and look up to them because of their success in an event and it can just like don't know, it's not necessarily like disorienting, but it's just kind of it's definitely interesting. But we all need to like afford other individuals some grace, like some space to make this activity what they want to.
Lyle Wiley:Absolutely. Did you have a pretty like stressful year in general too, as a senior? I mean, did you take some college level courses and make some big decisions about your future and all that kind of?
Breanna Wollman:stuff I am. Neither of my parents went to college, neither of them went to high school, for that matter. So managing the college environment this year on top of senior debate season and everything else I was working on at school, like from community service projects to being the president of Future Business Leaders of America at my school, it was so, so, so much and as much as I have like so many fantastic memories, like on top of the really difficult things I did this year with coursework and extracurriculars and stuff, um, I, as much as I sometimes think about I, want to redo this year. I don't. I had an amazing setup with support system from my coaches and, like I mentioned, my friends and me still have my best high school memories this year. But it's so much to go through emotionally and I said it's over, but at the same time, I'm excited to move on and work on something else and I'm experiencing something that's.
Lyle Wiley:That's exciting, did you? Do you think? I mean, a lot of this is, I'm sure, stuff that you've learned about yourself for the in the activity this year, but is there is there anything else like unique that you learned about the activity or yourself this season?
Breanna Wollman:This just I. It's so crazy. As soon as you start like prioritizing having fun, that um everything you do, like you start competing better. And that's not necessarily anything like crazy or entirely unique, like I feel, like you say it out loud and it's common sense, but um, for me in past years it's been like if I'm not 100% serious, like focused on getting this done, I'm gonna compete poorly.
Breanna Wollman:And then this year when I the tournaments that I decided I was going to go in and have fun were the ones I competed the best in, like, oh my gosh, in January this year I was, um, we had a competition that was like an hour away from my town, so we didn't stay the night there. We drove there, came back on Friday night and then Saturday night drove there again after we all slept in our homes and my car car it ran out of gas on the drive to the school in the morning, um, so I made our entire bus like an hour late to this tournament. My coach had to come because my parents were out of town. My coach had to come get gas, fill up my car. Um, help me while I sat outside in the frigid january Dakota colds at 530 in the morning it was absolutely terrible and by the time my car had gotten gas got off the side of the road. I was like I don't want to go to this tournament.
Breanna Wollman:I was so tired because I didn't go to bed until like 1am the night before, so I was running off of like three and a half hours of sleep. It was terrible, but I was so sleep deprived and I was like, if this tournament goes bad, I don't even care, I'm just gonna have to try to have fun. Because I'm feeling miserable right now. And I ended up winning the whole tournament in LD that day, somehow by the grace of Celsius after Celsius, and that day felt so weird because I can just remember in the morning like wishing that my coach would drop me from LD and I could just go home and sleep after this whole thing happened. But he didn't do that.
Breanna Wollman:And I'm sure if I would have asked him he would have, but I was not about to do that as a senior with only so many LD tournaments left. Um, but it's. It's perspective is huge, as what that story uh shares. But um, yeah, that was definitely something. That's. That goes to show. The thing I learned this season is that having fun should probably be your biggest priority and can help you, especially with success. State was another thing where perspective was really important because I an extent on friday I? I crash and burned in all of my rounds. I? Um.
Breanna Wollman:The only tournament I did not make finals, and except in this year, was state, because it was a scheduling issue where um, we, the South Dakota activities association, has a very cut and dry on the schedule you could have um, depending on the entries that you have in an event. So one of my judges was late in my oratory round. Um, though I was first speaker, got out there as soon as I can. I lost 12 minutes of extemp prep time that the schedule could not be changed to get it back, and that first round I gave a bad speech because the last loss of time, like it, freaked me out. It affected all of my other extemp rounds freaked me out. It affected all of my other stem rounds and I I did.
Breanna Wollman:I went back in my hotel room as soon as breaks came out and I cried so hard because oratory this year as much as I love oratory, it was not my strong suit. Um, the least expected thing that I that came out of this tournament was winning oratory, because it had not been the year I'd hoped. In fact, the expectation this year was I really wanted to NLD and Xtemp seemed what was most realistic for that. So it was just another example of getting out of your head and remembering the real reason you're there, things like that. Because, again, as I mentioned earlier, the tournaments that I remembered what was important to me using my voice, having fun, communicating with others it was those are the tournaments I did best in.
Breanna Wollman:And I know I've said that so many times, but it's something that it took me so long to realize, and if there's anything I can afford to other competitors this year, even especially if they're going into their senior year, is that you will do better for yourself mentally, physically, in school and competition when you remember that you were a human being, you were allowed to make mistakes first and go in this activity grateful that you can be there.
Lyle Wiley:that's yeah I love that. That's so important. Absolutely agree, and yeah, like again, just congratulations on an amazing year. I want to change things up for a second and have a ghostly spooky interlude. Okay, you mentioned earlier that when you were younger you were, you were afraid of ghosts, uh, so maybe you maybe I will see if you've changed your views. Do you believe in ghosts and in the paranormal like why? Or?
Breanna Wollman:why, not um, so this kind of ties back with the conjuring movie too, because a movie like that, based on true events, even if it's not like a complete, 100 accurate reflection of what happened it was one of those things where, as I like I mentioned in elementary school, I was terrified it's not like a complete, 100% accurate reflection of what happened. It was one of those things where, as I mentioned in elementary school, I was terrified of ghosts. That fear kind of dimmed down until I watched the Conjuring movie and then I was like, oh my god, maybe the ghosts are real.
Breanna Wollman:So right now I'd probably say I'm leaning more to. The ghosts are real in the paranormal it's. Conversations like this are difficult and not so not difficult at the same time. It really depends on how it's framed. But it is like the existence of exactly like you said, with like faith and religion. It ties into it so interestingly, like faith and religion, it ties into it so interestingly. And, um, I'm not necessarily like someone who like it's it's I'm just having word soup right now um, but I believe in ghosts. It's honestly would not have the time to explain like every instance or like why I think ghosts are real, but it's just something that I like to feel I don't know that's.
Lyle Wiley:That is legit. It's a very difficult thing to try to.
Breanna Wollman:It's very personal and I don't know complicated like no reason at all, because, well, there is a reason, by ghosts, like a lot of times they're framed as like halloween things and it's like animated things. Then you're like, oh my God, but these could be real and I don't know.
Lyle Wiley:All right. Well, let's shift away from the ghosts for now. Yeah, that's a good choice, I think, moving to like. I want to talk about like activism and speech and debate as a tool for leading to change. So how does speech and debate, like, create opportunities for leading to change? So how does speech and debate create opportunities for students to become agents of change in their local spaces and then in the larger, more national space?
Breanna Wollman:I think this question ties really great back into being a student of the year finalist, because that is the entire idea, like honoring students that took the skills that they learned from speech and debate and generated change in their community. I think with the skills that speech and debate teaches students, there comes a huge responsibility to not let those skills go to waste. Navigating how you put that to use in your life is going to be different for everybody. Negligating how you put that to use in your life is going to be different for everybody. But I think if there is an issue that you are passionate about and you have time, not even resources you can develop and find resources later, but first the time you can find other like-minded issues that care about that issue.
Breanna Wollman:Aside from speech and debate, my high school experience was defined by this project, or primarily defined by this project. I started with some of my friends called Project Red where, like the entirety of my junior and senior year, we worked on trying to eliminate period poverty on the local state and in my school, like those levels, and it was entirely because of speech and debate, the speaking skills, that we gained the writing skills, like we assisted in writing the first ever bill in the South Dakota legislature that would have ended the pink tax and dealing with those kinds of things, especially again when you have the time. It's so important because speech and debate made you a communicator for a reason, and sure it's great being able to express in a debate round something, but if you are not taking those speaking skills and your ability to persuade others and applying them in other ways, then I think you're cutting yourself short as a competitor as well, because the way you become a well-rounded communicator is being able to talk and obviously talk, but to be able to communicate not only in a debate round, but also how to have hard conversations outside of rounds where your win loss is not defined by a ballot but instead how you like an opportunity to advance on an issue. That sounds super complicated because I didn't explain it the most beautifully, especially with the debate thing. But there were multiple times with the project where something felt like a loss, but in the long term it was definitely a win, and debate cuts things very black and white with what is a win and what is a loss in terms of rankings, but dealing with things that are like perceived losses the ability to persevere, especially in that realm. It just makes you a better rounded person and like someone who can empathize with other people and you don't think that things like that tie into competition, but it 110 does, because being genuine and um, it's not something, it is some. You can very clearly tell when someone cares.
Breanna Wollman:I believe we're talking about platform events a little bit later, but being able to share stories like that about how you cared about an issue and you've tried to tackle an issue in whatever way you could, I think it really can sell a story even more, because you can make other people care about an issue where you can then use your platform speech and debate to advocate for.
Breanna Wollman:So it's very like felt kind of round in my explanation, but in the end you have a responsibility, um being a communicator, to do something um, no matter like how small it is, um, and it doesn't always have to be like volunteering in the way that we think it is. It's like a Salvation Army, for example, but helping younger classmates on your team or in your school, assisting the person that doesn't feel like they have a community in your school or other areas like the third places you know, like out in public or maybe, if you're religious at a church, it's again like being a well-rounded person outside of the round makes you a better competitor as well. That that was also just a lot of talking, but I think I I hit all the um the boxes on what I wanted to get out of that with that answer.
Lyle Wiley:So just like some great stuff in there, but just a follow up question or thought Do you experience with your peers and other students that you know that are involved in speech debate or, just like high school age students, sort of a fatalistic kind of mentality about the their impact on what's happening in the world? Um, like, uh, uh, a fear that that that they can't impact change.
Breanna Wollman:Yeah, um, and that's it's definitely. What is a roadblock for most people is because, especially with larger issues that impact a lot of individuals, you don't think there's anything that you can do. But, like I, I assure you that isn't true. Um, you don't have to start an entire project or dedicate like every extra hour. You have to something to make an impact. Um, and that definitely is what creates barriers for change being generated on so many different issues. But it starts even as simple if you do have like an hour or two um aiding your time where you can see it needed in your community. Um, a lot of people this is this is phasing a little bit away but especially, I watched a lot of like college admission videos this year and a lot of the advice people were like talking about is, if you have a passion project, like you're guaranteed to get into a college and a lot of people in the comments being like, oh my gosh.
Breanna Wollman:I never started like a whole non-profit that created like a cure to a terrible disease, like I'm not gonna get anything like, all I have is, um, normal volunteer hours. And that seems so ridiculous to me because, first of all, the people that framed college admissions like that, that's not what they should have done. That's not like. Starting a non-profit is not something that's accessible to everybody. Different people have different resources in different time, whatever but you still like changed something. Even if you like didn't develop something from the scratch, you can still aid into something that already exists. Like I mentioned earlier, salvation armies or something that is national, and every case I've seen require assistance and just helping their mission go forward. You're still creating a lot of change, even if it's not something that you can necessarily like, feel feel isn't necessarily the right word, but it's. That ripple effect still exists because you took the time out of your day to help like small things can have a big impact in the long term yeah, yeah, I and I do.
Lyle Wiley:I think that, even if students want to approach advocacy in a larger way, there's opportunity for that in ways that I don't know, that that a lot of students know exist. And yeah, I mean, I think your story and what you've done is a pretty good example of that, like starting at a local level and and like thinking about it at a larger level. I mean, that's, it's kind of how things operate in the adult world as well.
Breanna Wollman:So so yeah.
Lyle Wiley:I mean, this is like important to me, because I even see this with fellow educators and fellow adults, just like this sort of you know like well, we can't.
Breanna Wollman:We can't do anything about how things are, like they just are the way that they are and we just need to like passively, kind of like deal, and yeah, I think that's a very dangerous way to slide into oblivion into oblivion and um with with the idea of like it's not necessarily, it's not learned helplessness at all, that's the wrong phrase for it, but the like, the idea of perceived helplessness. It's really damaging. Um, because people get so stuck when they think that they aren't create, they don't have the capacity to create any change, no matter how big or small that change is.
Lyle Wiley:Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. What's next for you? What's next for Brianna? What are you going to do?
Breanna Wollman:Well, I will be at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. So, right in Minneapolis, go Gophers and I'll be studying political science. I'm thinking a double major in communications as well. But if there's anything that debate showed me these past four years is that politics is something that I can talk anyone's ear off and a conversation that sometimes right now, is extremely difficult to have. But that doesn't mean it's any less important, and especially in this political climate, like there is so much need for people educated in government to get into government. So, with campaigns, all things like that, in communication, it's, if you're in speech and debate, you know how important communication is when. That's why I thought it was like a hand-in-hand thing.
Breanna Wollman:Um, I'm so excited for my next four years there in the twin cities. I, coming from a town with like 30 000 people, which it's it's decently sized, is going to be a significant change where my new school has its very own zip code. Opportunities and getting out of my comfort zone is something that was really important to me, um, when choosing where to go and what is next for me. So I'm hoping I can work on some internships, um, in dc and in the minneapolis area, at the capitol in st Paul. Also, right now I am possibly working on getting a coaching job, so that's cool. It's difficult to navigate with managing like, as I mentioned earlier, being a first-gen student the first year at a college. Managing like what I can realistically commit myself to because I don't want to overburden myself like I have in the past. But short term, um, u of M, I am about 99% sure, law schools after that, but we're still working out the details. I'm trying to, um, make decisions as they come and bring to live in the moment here too.
Lyle Wiley:Oh yeah, absolutely I mean that sounds like a great plan, but if it changes, it changes and that's okay. Well, that's exciting. Congratulations and good luck to you in the next steps. Thank, you yeah of course I was thinking it'd be fun to close out interviews by talking about the visceral fear of speech and debate. For like many people, especially maybe non speech and debate folks, Just in general, the general public has got this terrifying like horrible feeling about public speaking.
Breanna Wollman:So why is?
Lyle Wiley:speech and debate worth the terror, the fear.
Breanna Wollman:Because, as I've touched on a lot of the same things this interview, because they're true in so many ways and it's learning how to be an advocate for things you care about, but also because being someone who can have a conversation with another human being or addressing a group of people will assist you in like every single aspect of your life.
Breanna Wollman:It's something that was always sold to us like especially why to join debate is because you were always going to have to talk with other people and being able to be good at it will get you so far.
Breanna Wollman:Um, and whether it is in like the classroom setting, giving a presentation, or um at your job, at the interview, or um presenting a proposal, all these different things like those are like very like vague examples like you apply them in your own life, but being a good speaker has always helped me more than any other skill that I have learned from any other activity.
Breanna Wollman:Communication, I feel like, is the buzzword of the session, but it's huge and so widely applicable that I have received in my high school experience. It is 100% because I could convey my message in a sophisticated and persuasive way because of speech and debate and being able to show yourself in like the things that you care about and like who you are in a conversational tone, even if it is just a conversation, not just publicly speaking to other people. You being confident in the words that you were saying is so, so, so important. We learn this in debate rounds, where sometimes we can be a little bit maybe clueless about a topic, or you hit a response that you don't necessarily, or hit a topic or a point that we don't necessarily know that well. But sometimes we know the confidence 100, even if your judge um doesn't entirely know the issue either.
Breanna Wollman:If you were selling something confidently, they're more likely to believe it, and the same is outside the world. So being able to speak pretty, it assists in so many different ways. A smell is the confidence that comes from public speaking. So that was another answer. I feel like it was so many different words and what you were saying will get so many more people on board in the future when you need to convince people to do something, or when you're just trying to sell yourself, like for college, for scholarship, for um, an internship and any kind of opportunity or fellowship for um, any kind of schooling, jobs, all these things that's. People will like hear the things you're saying, but it really depends on how you're saying thank you so much to brianna for joining us here at camp one clap.
Lyle Wiley:It was an absolute joy to chat with and learn from her. What's new at camp tomorrow? Well, izzy garcia is back and he'll be sharing episode one of izzy's activists guide to the clapocalypse. You're not going to want to miss that. Remember social media challenges are live for every day of camp this August, so get involved and we'll see you tomorrow, campers. Oh, and if you want to avoid zombies, just go to their least favorite room. You know the living room For Camp One Clap. This is Camp Director Wiley signing off.