Rural Debaters Unite

Nominate an Extraordinary Teen!

One Oregon mom bounced out of the Countdown to College workshop armed with tools, ideas and enthusiasm. But she confided that she thought her family was a little behind the curve on public service. A couple of months later, I had the opportunity to catch up with Carla over a telephone coffee. She had a fresh gleam in her eye; she and her children had been out in the world and it had fallen at their feet!

Her eldest two sons teamed up to take charge of the International Debate Society (IDS network), an online debate club which serves rural homeschoolers. Once a week the brothers log onto the network, conducting value debate classes, coordinating peer mentors, and coaching young debaters with varying skill levels from across the country. It makes a pretty intense afternoon, but the rewards are great.

Dylan and Tait work with15 students from 6 states (and one in Uganda!), training them for competition in the National Christian Forensics and Communication Association. In the past, the IDS instructors and peer mentors have themselves become national competitors, due in large part to the experience of helping others get around their mental roadblocks. And the isolated young people who get their training in IDS, gain a social outlet, an academic challenge and out-sized skills in persuasion, logical thinking and standing up for what you think under pressure. Many of the IDS students live too far away from any other debaters ever to participate in a tournament, but they debate every week online in real time with friends from coast to coast.

And it doesn’t stop there. IDS alumni don’t wait to begin taking up service themselves; they start applying their newfound skills in the real world – now! Alumni can be found staffing local offices for state and national legislators, advocating restorative justice in municipal Teen Courts, writing free-lance for national magazines, manning local radio stations, raising funds for local charities, and campaigning for elected officials before they are old enough to vote. “Service encourages students to invest in others. They learn what opportunities there are, etc. They are so much better prepared for life,” says Carla. “Suddenly they aren’t just spectators in life.”

The brothers, including Creighton, their younger sib, take their public speaking service locally as well as internationally. The family visits a local retirement home, giving inspiring Bible talks based on their competitive apologetics research.  The young people develop caring relationships with the elders at the center. They grieve when the old ones die, but they have the satisfaction of seeing that they were able to ease the last difficult stretch of life.

Together, Tait and Dylan have teamed up with other local NCFCA competitors to create a speech tournament event for elementary school students once a year. In addition to providing younger students an opportunity to develop poise and public speaking skills, the Junior Tournament is a major factor in maturing young competitors on the high school level. According to parents of the organizing teens, “They see what leadership costs and what it takes to be a good leader. And they begin to appreciate what adults do for them on a larger scale when parents organize a high school tournament.”

Kudos to Tait and Dylan! Welcome to the Carpe Diem Cadre!

Next time, wait till you see what the younger sibs in this family have gotten up to!