“Be as critical of my speech as possible!” asks sophomore Jake Ehlers before he launches into a speech about the virtues of traveling to Mars. This Tuesday, Ehlers informed an audience of six students about space travel in preparation for the PIL championship meet hosted by Lincoln April 3, 4, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. The competition will determine which speakers move on to state.

Lincoln has 38 students in the meet, which features speakers from Benson, Madison, Wilson, Lincoln, and Cleveland,  the reigning state champions. The tournament began Thursday at Cleveland with Policy Debate and Extemporaneous Speaking, which is an unprepared individual event. All other events, such as Parliamentary Debate, Poetry Reading, and Humorous Interpretation, are being held at Lincoln Friday and Saturday.

Last year, the entire tournament was hosted by Cleveland. Hosting this year is great for the school and for  coach Jenny Owen, because it brings attention to the program, she said. Owen has  been working overtime to make the tournament a success. “The biggest challenge to overcome before districts is getting students back in the loop right after spring break,” she said. “As districts approached, I needed to make trips to the trophy store and coordinate with PPS facilities on building details,” Owen said. The pressure of the tournament is not just the duty of hosting it, but also making sure that Lincoln achieves its “ultimate goal of winning sweeps,” she said.

“The district tournament is the highest-stakes competition so far this year, and it is hard to remain confident in the face of such a challenging tournament,” sophomore Sheila Panyam said. Even though she admits it will be challenging, Panyam is “just excited to compete at districts.” Fortunately, this upbeat attitude is the norm for the team, said sophomore Daniel Cohen.

“Districts is a daunting challenge,” sophomore Kelsey Dunn said. “The hardest part is just putting yourself out there.” Students are certainly putting themselves out there, as can be seen by their eagerness to be critiqued and get better. “I am looking forward to receiving feedback on my new speech that I wrote for districts,” freshman Stella Wiswall said. After performing a complex prose piece about an alternate reality situation, sophomore Anisha RajBhandary asked the audience, “Does anybody have any comments or critiques?”

“This want for improvement really helps out the whole team,” said Panyam, who is competing with two different speeches at districts: one about rape, and another about civic engagement across history. These are just some of the complex and controversial topics that are being studied and spoken about by district competitors.

As for the competition, Dunn said, “Winning is always nice but that’s not why we do it.” Ehlers, on the other hand, has a much different stance. “[I’m] really just here to win,” he confessed.