The strong debate team was what attracted me to move across the country and attend the University of Oregon. Without the forensics program, I would have attended a different university. Debate was the core of my academic experience at the U of O and helped prepare me for an incredibly successful legal career.
While debating for the University of Oregon, I also coached the South Eugene high school debate team for six years. Many of the students I coached were children of professors at the U of O. The U of O debate program has a long history of strong connections with high school debate programs throughout the state. While working on my Masters in Public Administration degree at the U of O, I successfully obtained grants for both Churchill high school and North Eugene high school to add debate programs because they were the only schools in the area that did not have them.
Considering the deep political and ideological divides in our country at the moment, having civil intellectual debates that empower people learn to understand and engage both sides of arguments has never been more important.