Two area school districts hosted 1,000 students at a State Speech Competition on Friday, with more than 80 Ohio schools represented.

South Range Local School District and Canfield Local School District kicked off the competitive weekend at Greenford Christian Church, with the weekend-long competition splitting things between the districts.

"Speech and debate is the most valuable and the most meaningful and the most important activity that any student can do in middle school or high school," Rich Kawolics, Solon High School debate coach, said. "I would encourage everyone who's involved with a school to look at speech and debate as an activity that their student will do."

Locally, students from South Range, Canfield, Fitch, Ursuline, Mooney, Niles, JFK, LaBrae, Columbiana, Boardman, Howland and Poland will compete.

The weekend covers 13 events, with four types of debate and nine types of speech.

"This is a lifestyle for these kids," Kawolics says. "Every day, for hours, it's just like being enrolled in two additional academic classes."

For speeches, some are written by the students and some are more similar to a broadcast news script, Kawolics said. For debate, students must convince judges that their side of the debate is the correct side against their opponents.

"I can't tell you how many students I've known in this activity who have gone on to do incredible things with their lives," Kawolics said, adding that some students in the program have gone on to become doctors, lawyers, community leaders and medical leaders.