My Nonprofit Reviews

I began competing as a sophomore in high school. Competitive speech and debate and the NSDA provided me and my teammates with skills we would never have learned in any other activity. With events in debate, public speaking, and interpretation of literature (acting), we learned how to formulate thoughts and ideas into coherent arguments; how to generate ideas in a limited time frame and convey them in a persuasive manner; and how to analyze a selection of literature and make it come alive for an audience through performance. After also competing in college, I became a high school teacher so I could continue to provide the benefits I gained to my own students. I have coached for 39 years simply because I continue to see the impacts it has on students' lives.