[Pirouette]

Hey Gabby,

First of all, welcome to Teenhelp! I can totally relate to this because I am personally the same too where I can strike up conversations with random people that I've never met before but am too scared to talk to people at school. Thinking and encountering this aspect for a long time, its mostly due to our self-consciousness of being judged by our peers. Even though there are people that think the opposite, its easier to talk to others whom we've never met because they don't know us and not likely to judge you as much as a peer you went to school with your entire life.

One of the ways to overcome social anxiety is putting yourself out there and socializing more often with others. As for you, I think debate is a wonderful extracurricular activity in helping you overcome social anxiety. When it comes to class presentations, everyone gets a bit nervous but you just gotta relax and pretend that your audience is random strangers. For me, that personally works really well. Just make yourself comfortable and don't pay too much attention to your audience; have everything you want to say prepared and ready to go when its time.

I hope this helps and wish you all the very best! If you ever need anything, feel free to PM/VM me anytime.