Although she’s just a freshman at Odessa High School, Ellie Mourning is heading to the UIL Student Congress Jan. 9-11 in Austin.
“Ellie is super smart. She got right in there with the big dogs and she played ball,” Speech and Debate coach Kennedi Hernandez said.
She added that they call Mourning “Baby Genius” in class because she’s the youngest one on the team. Hernandez said she can count on Mourning for anything and she’s very dedicated.
Mourning, 14, said she has always been very argumentative and aspires to be a lawyer. Her father’s cousin is a general attorney who owns the Schoel Law Firm in downtown Odessa.
“It just floats my boat. I love debate. I love the game,” she said.
Hernandez said the student Congress involves every region in the state, which send their top three students. Region 18 will have Mourning and two students from Midland.
“They break it down by school size, so 6A competes with 6A; 5A competes with 5A , so she’s competing with all the other giant schools in Texas,” Hernandez said.
To prepare, Mourning will write about 40 three-minute speeches for each bill, the affirmation and negation.
“I practice the enunciation. I practice how I plan on speaking and the whole shebang,” she added.
Mourning said her parents weren’t surprised that she joined speech and debate.
“But even I was shocked that I advanced to state because that was my first tournament … doing Congress. … I had never done it. Ms. Hernandez definitely helped me prepare for it, but it’s definitely a new learning curve and experience so when I was waiting, I’m like, okay, I’m going to do the best I can. … I wasn’t planning on placing, especially because it was my first time, but I did and here we are,” Mourning said.
Congress is an individual contest in a large group setting. It models the legislative process of democracy, specifically, the United States Congress, the University Interscholastic League website said. It starts with a docket, including the order of the bills that are going to be argued.
”It’s very much like regular Congressional procedure, just on a smaller scale. They have voting, they have rules of order, points of motion; just like a smaller scale of regular Congress,” Hernandez said.
Having done the student Congress herself, Hernandez said she can coach her students and give them advice, but as far as their preparedness and their work, “it’s on them.”
“I’m always really excited to see how my students do, especially the first time you know, because you don’t really know what’s going happen. You’re not really prepared. You don’t know what’s going on, so I do get a little nervous. I always find myself peeking in the little windows to see if my kids are speaking; how’s it going? But it’s really exciting. I love to watch it because I used to do it, so it’s fun to be on this side of it,” Hernandez said.
She added that she feels like the students are getting smarter.
“There’s so many more resources like the internet and access to stuff like that. They have so much access to information, so the competition is just getting harder and the kids are getting smarter. It’s really cool to see. It’s really cool to watch,” Hernandez said.
“It’s exhilarating,” Mourning added.
Hernandez said she always tells her students to take the mindset that it’s like a game.
“It’s a game that you want to win. It’s a social game as much as it is an information game because you do have to vote and you have to get people on your side and you have to convince people. It’s a social game as much as it is a political game and you have to really know your audience is a really important thing, too,” she added.
Because you don’t really know your audience until you’re there, you have to be able to adapt.
“That is a great word to describe Congress because you never know what order you’re going to have to give your speeches. You never know what kind of questions they’re going to throw at you and how you have to answer them, or if you have the information to answer them. You just have to adapt,” Mourning said.
“All I can ensure is that I have the best speeches out of everybody and I just have to get up there, be confident and win,” Mourning said.
She added that her mother says Ellie has been arguing since she could talk.
Mourning has a younger sister, Addie, who is in fifth grade at Reagan Elementary School.
”I would definitely say that I got my argumentative side from my mom. I take after her a lot. But both of my parents are very intelligent, and I respect them a lot,” Mourning said.
She was in her first competition Nov. 14.
Mourning previously attended Young Women’s Leadership Academy in Midland.
She is now in the International Baccalaureate program at Odessa High.
“I love the IB program. As a freshman I can’t take any full IB classes or the diploma program yet because that is for juniors and seniors, of course. But I am still in the program and I love the community. I love the teachers and I just really appreciate it and love what they have going on at Odessa High School,” Mourning said.
Mourning plays golf for OHS and plays and teaches piano at the beginning level.
