Speech & Debate: A Resolution To Transform Lives & Provide LimitlessOpportunities

I pace the halls, talk to walls & resolve to make 3/15 National Speech & Debate Education Day!

I have so much to be grateful for...

My first flight as a high school student... 

My first "real job" as a college student... 

I owe my life, my career to the National Forensic League and the world of speech and debate.

Thank you to every coach, every judge, every bus driver and to all of those who watched us grow up pacing the halls and talking to walls.

When I learned that the National Forensic League (@SpeechAndDebate) started a campaign to have the US Senate name March 15, 2016 National Speech and Debate Education Day, I had to do something. I am an educator because I found my teaching vocation through speech and debate. 

Here we are, the 2008 Wildcat Debaters at the Grand Canyon! (Me, Spencer, Marla, BS, and state champ LT!)

Q: What's crazier than hosting the national championship tournament in the summertime desert heat?

A: Inviting thousands of high school students to Las Vegas for a week: yikes!

It was working with the Greater Latrobe High School Speech Team throughout college that helped me to discover my vocation. I discovered that I enjoyed coaching young people and that I had a knack for breaking down complex processes and arguments. Moreover, I was a better coach than I was a competitor--as athletes describe the oddest of sensations, things just seemed to slow down and I was able to see the nuances of arguments and issues in a way that I couldn't once before. This was my path--and I relished every bus trip, tournament, and stale cup of coffee in the judges' lounge.

In fact, as a competitor one of my chief rivals happened to be my dear friend Alan--a Latrobe debater himself!

Fun fact: Just as I found my first taste of gainful employment of the non-work-study-service-industry variety via speech and debate, Alan did too!

I worked for Latrobe for four years, coaching with my friend and Nat Boards juggernaut teaching role mode, Lisa BS. The job helped me to survive my lean undergrad years at St Vincent and ever-challenging years of grad school and student teaching. 

When I landed my full time teaching position in February '08, it was the week before the state qualifying tournament. Wouldn't you know that my classroom was the staging ground for the final round of expository speaking. 

LT delivered her state champion caliber speech on "dumpster diving" in room 171. I finished the year as Latrobe's assistant coach and passed the torch to another former extemper who recently wrapped up his undergrad and was returning to school to pursue his vocation as a minister--Alan, the young man pictured above.

We prefer the term "power suit" more than "pantsuit", FYI.

Life is funny. And beautiful. And short. I hope the US Senate acts fast to pass this resolution--a resolution to transform the lives of young people... Just as it did for every single person pictured in the photos above. 

Thanks for the RT @speechanddebate. I meant all 140 characters.

Seriously--thank you and the many, many people who volunteered evenings and weekends to provide opportunities for ragamuffins Iike me.

-Jennifer Sylves Lanas