There is a spring in the spirit of senior Breton Hawkins, who runs through the halls of Ennis High School with one thought on his mind: state. Racing into a classroom, he tackles and bear hugs his friend and debate partner, junior Ben Speigner, and tells him the good news.
“I heard we were in first place, which means we had made state,” Hawkins said. “I literally ran out of the library, ran all the way across the school [and] ran into the room and hugged him, and I’m like ‘we made it, we’re going to state.’”
Hawkins and Speigner qualified for the TFA (Texas Forensic Association) and UIL State Debate Championships, the first qualifiers from Legacy in school history. By advancing to the quarterfinals at the Winston Churchill High School meet in San Antonio, they earned their way into the TFA Championships, and by taking first at the Ennis High School meet, the pair guaranteed their spot at the state tournament.
“[We were] pleased as punch,” said Speigner. “We put in quite a hefty time investment into it, so it’s good to see that we’re getting some return on our investment.”
The debaters put in hours of practice after school and all of their saturdays during the season. After a semester’s worth of research, arguing, preparation, and more arguing, Speigner and Hawkins both anticipated their hard work to pay off in a run at state.
“We expected to do well,” Hawkins said. “We knew we had a shot.”
The duo will participate in the TFA State Championship on March 9-12 at Hendrickson High School in Pflugerville, TX, and the UIL State Championship on March 18-19 at the University of Texas in Austin.
