Forensics has provided me with invaluable educational experiences that shaped my subsequent professional and personal life. The demands that forensics placed on me to craft persuasive arguments based on a rigorous analysis of evidence helped make me a better student. It helped me to write better papers, culminating in an Honors Thesis at the University of Oregon, and make better and more informed contributions to class discussions. The skills with evidence and argument, subsequently, proved vital in writing a doctoral dissertation in history and in my subsequent career writing and publishing in history. The comfort I developed speaking in front of people–while conveying a cogent argument–has also been of considerable help in developing my skills as a teacher at Mississippi State University. The free form of cross examination, in particular, has made me comfortable answering questions and posing questions to students to get them to think critically about material. Finally, my time in forensics introduced me to many great people who made my time at the University of Oregon better by providing a cohort of like-minded people with whom to hang-out; many of these people have remained my friends over the 35 years since I graduated.