The Grady Jesters speech and debate team continued its exemplary season by winning the state championship for the seventh year in a row.

The team, which was founded in 1985, has a history of success that goes well beyond the past seven years of state championships. The team has had 43 individual state champions since 2002, and is the only team in Georgia to have had a national champion in every event offered.

The two coaches,  Lisa Willoughby and Mario Herrera, each competed on their high school speech and debate teams, which gives them more insight into how to be good coaches.

“The coaches have a lot of experience debating, so they really know what they’re talking about when they help you out,” junior Noah Hammond said. “They also put in a ton of time and effort into the team.”

Willoughby, who has been coaching the team for 31 years, started when she was offered a teaching position under the condition of becoming the debate coach.

“I thought it was an activity… that would be empowering for students,” Willoughby said.

Herrera has been coaching since he became a teacher at Grady in 2005, but has been involved in speech and debate for about 30 years, since he competed in high school.

Herrera and Willoughby share a coaching style that focuses on the individual improvement of students.

“For me, it’s not really so much about winning,” Willoughby said. “It’s about how much the students grow. Growth is not always necessarily becoming more competitively successful.”

This outlook on coaching creates a relaxed, but competitive environment that Herrera also tries to emphasize.

“I allow myself to make mistakes and have fun,” Herrera said. “I don’t know all the answers. I learn from my students, hopefully, every day. And I also guide. Hopefully, what I do is I let teenagers be teenagers.”

The team’s success can also be partly attributed to its size. With a team of over 50 students, the Grady Jesters are one of the only teams in Georgia that competes in every event of speech and debate. To create a team that big, the team is almost always recruiting.

The team’s reputation among Grady students and faculty helps recruit new members.

“I get a lot of referrals from other teachers to try to get students interested,” Herrera said.

Besides notoriety for its success, the team is known for  its close-knit culture. The Grady Jesters’ team chemistry seems unmatched by most other debate teams.

“Grady is so different from other schools because our team is so close,” senior Ashley Carter said. “Grady has shoulders to cry on, people to laugh with, and most importantly, an awesome support team.”

The coaches understand the importance of a family-like environment, so they try to ensure tournaments and practice are a balance of fun and education.

“We both very much believe it has to be a balance between fun and learning,” Willoughby said.

In addition, they encourage older members of the team to teach younger ones.

“My favorite part about being on the debate team is most definitely the sense of community you feel within the team,” junior Bailey Damiani said. “We form this huge family of students throughout all grade levels who really help to support each other in not only our various events, but also our academic endeavors.”

Students dedicate 20-25 weekends a year to debate tournaments, as well as practices after school, which occur  between one to five days a week, depending on the event and whether or not there is an upcoming tournament.

“We have an amazing group of hard-working and motivated students whose dedication has continually paid off throughout the entirety of this season,” Damiani said.

Parents and students are also realizing participating in speech and debate has long term benefits.

“Debate has really helped me be able to know more about how the world works, like current events and politics, as well as being able to formulate arguments quickly,” Hammond said.

By creating a welcoming team environment, Herrera and Willoughby have created and maintained a legacy of success of debate at Grady.

“This is what I’ve decided I do,” Herrera said. “And so I want to become the best at it that I can. And sure that means weekends and that means evenings. I just want to give a positive experience, create critical thinkers, and send individuals into the world wanting to learn more.”