Our Team

The Grand Oaks Speech and Debate Team is led by Coaches Audra Langston and Ryan Baker. We compete in many speech and debate events locally, at the state level, and nationwide. We also host two yearly tournaments: GOHS Speech & Debate Tournament and Bluebonnet International World Schools Debate Tournament.

In the 2022-23 academic year, we qualified over 40 students for TFA State and had our first TFA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP in Duet Acting with the performance of the much loved 'Bad Words Part II'.

In the 2023-24 academic year, we qualified 30 students for TFA State , competed at Harvard, became Miami's Adelante International World Schools Debate champions, and placed 5th in both International Public Policy Forum (New York City) and Tournament of Champions World Schools Debate.

We also qualified 7 students for NSDA Nationals, a tournament hosting over 7,000 students from all 50 states and 7 countries. Our debate team completed in over 16 different debate topics, and our speech team competed in 6 rounds of competition. By the end of Nationals week, two of our students advanced in Extemporaneous Debate (10th Place) and World Schools Debate (Top 20). Our coach, Audra Langston, was also recognized as 1 of 23 coaches to earn the esteemed honor of being a 3 Diamond Coach at the National Assembly for her dedication and commitment to the Speech & Debate coaching community.  

We look forward to continuing to build our Grand Oaks legacy in the 2024-25 academic year!