It's ALL About the Obese, Wicked Bike in the Dumpster
I've said this over and over, but the most professionally rewarding thing I've done since graduate school is working with the Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School Forensics team. Two years ago, my friend Chris called me one morning, got me out of bed, told me he had been "asked" to be the new Forensics coach of his school, and informed me I was going to be helping him. I told him I was more than glad to.And I was. Minus one particularly stressful seven-hour drive from DC to Virginia Beach last July, I loved every single minute of finding pieces, getting to know the students, judging at tournaments, giving suggestions, and collaborating with Chris. I arranged my move to L.A. so I could try and work with them for as much of their season as possible, only moving to the West Coast after the students had nearly won the state championship.
Unfortunately, like a too-short series run of Once and Again or I'll Fly Away, all good things must come to an end.
This weekend, the students participated in the National Catholic Forensics League Tournament in Milwaukee. I flew out of LAX Thursday night, met the team at the airport, and hung out with them throughout the weekend. It was a good chance for me to say good-bye. Chris keeps trying to tell me that he's going to find a way to keep me involved in the program next year, but the pessimist in me fears that won't happen.
The students have been incredibly successful. They have all improved vastly over the last two years. Some of them have become really good and others have an enormous amount of potential. Almost all of them have won at least one award this year. Seven of them qualified in six events for the National Tournament in Milwaukee. Of those six events, three of them broke to out rounds. Nuge made it to Octo-finals in Oral Interpretation (no simple task). Amanda made it to Octo-finals in Original Oratory and Nicole made it to Quarterfinals in Dramatic Performance. A couple of our Extempers were probably both very close to breaking--we think. Overall, the kids were pleased with their performance and their year.
Working with the students has been incredibly rewarding. I'd like to think that I made an enormous influence on them, in some ways shaping their lives, but that's really vanity and pride talking. I know that at the end of the day, I probably learned more from them than they did from me. I'd like to think that I'll be able to keep up with most of them as they graduate, go about their lives, but life doesn't turn out as neat as a Ron Howard movie...
So to Alex, Jeremy, Micaela, Nicole, Kaitlin, Nuge, Ashley, Christine, Amanda, George, Steph, Natasha, MJ, Kat McKenna, Kat Murphy, Joe Fitz, Adam, and Sarah J., I say thank you. For everything. And to Gross, I miss you man.
posted by cinegod @ 10:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home