I was fortunate enough to co-direct the Oregon debate and speech team from 2005

2009 and it is the only reason I am a collegiate professor. Oregon debate not only gave me access to the world’s debating championship (where my partner and I ranked top 8), it gave me world-class access to collegiate educators who taught me what it means to be a teacher. I have taught college debating for 20 years now at 2 and 4 year institutions, I have worked in youth detention centers, maximum security prisons, with high school and middle school students. I have coached hundreds of students so they can develop as speakers, listeners, researchers, and critical thinkers and I owe all of it to Oregon Forensics.

As the coach at Humboldt, I live in a rural place. The Oregon high school tournament was our local school’s lifeline to competitive debating. The loss is immeasurable to those trying to continue forensics education in the Pacific Northwest.