Panthers of ISKL #330: The 2026 SEA Forensics & Debate Panthers
Hosted annually by ISKL, this tournament welcomes other national and international schools to compete in an opportunity for students to display their critical thinking, creative expression, and eloquent speaking while forming connections and being inspired by others.
Wilder B. (‘27) and Tillie VdB. (‘26) represented ISKL and are enthused to share their experiences with our ISKL community about their participation as members of this year’s SEA Forensics & Debate team.
Here are their stories:
Describe your feelings leading up to this year’s SEA Forensics & Debate
Wilder B. (‘27)
My experience with speech competitions has taught me that your mental preparation is everything. That razor-thin line between excited and nervous is where a good speech is forged. Because of this, I am feeling excited but also aware that too much unchanneled energy can manifest itself as stress, not preparation. Nonetheless, my personal speaking style is upbeat, interactive, and energetic, and because of this, I would personally prefer giddy over emotionless.
Tillie VdB. (‘26)
I feel very excited. I look forward to sharing my speech each year, especially because I speak about topics that are really important to me, and ones I believe are vital to share. I also love hearing others' Original Oratory speeches, because their subjects are interesting and often relatable.
Tell us more about some of the preparation you did
Wilder B. (‘27)
The Sea Forensics & Debate, contrary to popular belief, is not about a single performance, a single speech, a single moment, but rather every speech you have ever given prior. I am a member of the impromptu team, and one minute of presentation time and five minutes of speaking time go by in the blink of an eye. As someone doing both speech and sports regularly, I can confidently say impromptu is as much muscle memory as any sport I have ever played. Your five minutes of fame come down to every practice you have done before.
Forensics is often a discipline that flies under the public eye of the ISKL body; people rarely understand the extent to which we practice. As a member of the impromptu team, I practice four lunches a week. I feel impromptu is the most personal of the speech formats. When you have a minute to prepare a five-minute speech, there is not a lot of room for facade. Because of this, practices focus heavily on personal improvement of your speaking skills, and interesting organizational methods of a speech.
Tillie VdB. (‘26)
One of the toughest things for me is always choosing a subject for my Original Oratory speech. I have to pick something I’m interested in, but also something that can be condensed into seven minutes, which is quite tough to do. The writing comes quite easily to me, but it comes too much. I’m not very concise; I like to ramble. This makes cutting and editing parts of the speech the most heartbreaking part, but I understand that it’s necessary to prepare and create the best speech possible.
Tell us what you gained through your experience and how it impacted your team
Wilder B. (‘27)
Competitions are a truly integral part of speaking, and because of this, SEA Forensics & Debate provides both my team and me with crucial experience. Speech competitions have a completely different intangible feel than merely a practice. Our team has many new speakers, and it is so important to get over the initial barrier between you and improvement. For each person, that is different, but in my experience, a speaking conference can bring you out of your comfort zone enough for you to develop more skills than any amount of practice could account for.
Tillie VdB. (‘26)
For me personally, it has allowed me to grow in my confidence to stand up and advocate for the things I believe in. SEA Forensics & Debate also greatly improves public speaking skills and builds a vital self-confidence that serves you well both in school and life. And for the team, it’s an essential team-building period which prepares us for IASAS, and provides us with a chance to hear each other's speeches.
Wilder B.
Describe your most memorable moments during the SEA Forensics & Debate
Wilder B. (‘27)
My favorite, my most important, and my worst moment in SEA forensics are all the same memory: semifinals on a Friday afternoon before the big finals the next day. My speeches until that moment were all very satisfactory, and my coach told me I was one of the top seeds going into the semifinals. If I could pull off one more, I was guaranteed finals. It being my first speaking conference ever, that statement understandably got into my head a bit. I walked into the room, heart racing, picked up the prompt, and started to write: A great speech, or so I thought, one that blended humor with intrigue, appealed to the audience in a fluid, yet structural way. I was ready. That was, until I looked down roughly a minute into the speech and realized I had misread the prompt. I had inserted, omitted, and jumbled the words. From there, it was a trainwreck. I attempted to rein it in, but it was a truly abysmal speech, one that no amount of damage control could correct.
As you may have guessed, it was a swift goodbye to the finals from there. There is a good chance the judges filled the score boxes not with numbers, but with "NA". How is this failure of a speech my favorite memory? It was only because of this that I could learn the importance of a calm, controlled mindset going into a speech. A still hand is so much more important than any eloquent string of words. I truly believe that without this experience, there would have been no possibility of my winning gold in IASAS just months later. That is what speech is about: Improvement.
Tillie VdB. (‘26)
It is more the feeling rather than any specific moment that I remember from my previous three years in SEA Forensics & Debate. Spending time with my team, discussing and practicing speeches, and giving each other feedback provides a sense of community and support. Public speaking is a very vulnerable thing to do, so everyone’s sort of on edge. Having an encouraging and supportive team really helps.
As a member of the SEA Forensics team, what were you most proud of?
Wilder B. (‘27)
As a member of the SEA Forensics team, I am so proud of the improvement that I have witnessed from the rest of my team. This year, we had many new speakers join our team, and I am so proud of all of our improvements. It is easy to look at one speech and judge the speaker, but having seen my teammates speak almost every day for months, I can confidently say no five-minute speech can represent their talent, dedication, and beautifully idiosyncratic personalities.
Tillie VdB. (‘26)
I’m most proud of my teammates, especially those who share speeches on topics that are really close to their hearts. I know from my own experience that it can be difficult to share these things and to have the confidence to stand for what you believe in and put yourself out there. It’s a very admirable thing, and something people ought to be proud of themselves for.
Tillie VdB.
What advice would you give other students who wish to participate in future years?
Wilder B. (‘27)
The largest piece of information I can give to future speakers is to live in the moment. The one caveat may be during the actual preparation and speech time. Personally, I remember sitting down after my IASAS finals speech and asking my teammates next to me what in the world I had spoken about. I had mentally blacked out. Except for the six minutes of preparation and speech aside, a speaking competition has so much to teach you, and so much that you can enjoy and grow from. Engage in reflection, listen to others, and talk to the wonderful other speakers. If there is anything a room full of speakers and debaters like to do is talk. A speech conference is what you put into it; make sure to get everything you can get out of it, regardless of the speech you gave in one five-minute span of time.
Tillie VdB. (‘26)
Go for it. It seems nerve-wracking, but it's a wonderful opportunity. For my event, the original oratory, I always tell people I love it because everyone has to shut up and listen to me talk about whatever I want for seven whole minutes. That’s a funny way of saying that it gives you a voice, and I think that’s a really important thing, to feel heard. I’d say if you have something to say, join.
How would you describe your Panther spirit?
Wilder B. (‘27)
For me, the most important descriptor of Panther spirit is collaboration in the pursuit of self-improvement. A uniqueness of SEA Forensics & Debate is its non-zero-sum nature. Unlike other forms of competition, speech is not about preventing the success of your competitors, but rather improving your speaking skills to deliver the best speech you can. Because of this, my Panther spirit going into this is full of determination and high aspirations for myself, with an excitement to experience the wonderful speeches delivered by my fellow speakers.
Tillie VdB. (‘26)
As a SEA Forensics member, my Panther spirit is mainly supportive. Whether it’s my own team or delegates from other schools, SEA is a very supportive environment. Even though it is a competition, it’s such a great achievement to come up with and deliver a speech, regardless of how it ranks. And I think the Panther spirit definitely prioritises supporting each other over competing.
Do you know of any student, teacher, parent, or staff member who always has an anecdote to tell, loves to share some insights into their passions and interests, or simply is a Panther through and through? Nominate them to be featured in our Panthers of ISKL stories by sending in your submissions here.