Hello Coach,

Happy National Speech and Debate Education Day!

At the NSDA, we spend the first Friday of every March honoring, celebrating, and promoting scholastic speech and debate. We know how this activity can change lives, and we are thrilled to have a day dedicated by the U.S. Senate to celebrating you, your partners, and your state’s teams and classes. If this is the first you’ve heard of National Speech and Debate Education Day, make a note to celebrate next year! If you are an NSDA member, check out new lessons released as part of our celebration in which students identify an issue in their community and work in groups to develop and enact a solution. 

Thanks to the generosity of The Julia Burke Foundation, our final scrimmages of the school year are just around the corner! Any school in your organization can register students for these FREE, after-school practice opportunities. Each scrimmage will offer live debate and alternate between offering live and asynchronous speech. Novice, middle school, and experienced speech and debate students welcome; no NSDA membership required.

If you are involved with the budgeting process at a school, or communicate with people who are, consider accessing or sharing the following tools in planning for next year:

• Fundraising Guide
• Advocating for a Class
• Requesting, Hiring, and Training Assistant Coaches

Through March 15, the NSDA is seeking topic suggestions for Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and World Schools Debate—no NSDA membership required to submit! Topics submitted online by March 15 will be considered for next school year. People can continue to submit after the deadline for their topics to be considered by the following year’s committees.

Policy Debate coaches, consider applying for a policy topic fellowship by April 1. NSDA membership is preferred but not required; selected coaches will contribute to the representational diversity of the NFHS topic writing process.

Many state organizations and leagues dedicated to speech and debate have leaders dedicated to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. These might be people who run equity offices at tournaments, oversee DEI committees, or even serve as a DEI representative in leadership groups. We want to create space for these representatives to meet periodically, exchange ideas, share resources, and learn about some of the DEI resources offered by the NSDA.

If your organization has an appointed DEI representative, please use this form to let us know who your representative is. If you do not have a DEI representative but would like to discuss ways to implement elements of diversity, equity, and inclusion in your state organization or league, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Paul Porter at paul.porter@speechanddebate.org

Questions? We're here to help! Email info@speechanddebate.org or call (920) 748-6206.

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