Early in my career, I was hyper focused on competitive speech & debate, seeing it as a path towards self-reflection, growth, community building, and progress (for society).

I also began considering ways to expand my reach, with a desire to help more than just the students in my immediate classroom. One of the ways I did that was to express my thoughts in writing. At the time, a good friend of mine, Marshall McMullen, had planted the seed that I should publish a textbook on policy debate. I was hesitant to take on such a daunting project, though. That project would continue to sit on my mental shelf for a few more years.

At first, I wrote a few articles for the National Speech & Debate Association’s (then the National Forensic League) journal, Rostrum. Those articles addressed many of the benefits of extracurricular and co-curricular programs that helped students develop their skills through speech, debate, and interpretation of literature. Once the writing bug had taken hold of me, I decided I would attempt to expand the reach of the entire Speech & Debate community by submitting articles to peer reviewed journals geared towards administrators and policymakers in education.

Shortly, my first peer reviewed article was published in Education Next during the winter of 2008-2009. It was a short piece that simply highlighted the merits of an activity that I loved deeply. It was also published alongside the journal’s review of the Denzel Washington film, The Great Debaters.

I still find the title of the article, “Intellectual Combat: My Journey in Competitive Forensics,” a little misleading. Too many people think of academic debate as “combat” with winners and losers. Interestingly, my experience has been more nuanced. In reality, the participants — competitors, judges, & coaches — are co-collaborators in the learning process. They explore ideas together, and everyone grows because of it.

Eventually, my time coaching speech & debate paved the way for me to work more broadly in education. That experience was also transformative in that it highlighted the ways I can work with people who aren’t necessarily interested in competitive speech & debate but would still like to gain the benefits of exploring communication.