Across America: University School

DAVIE, Fla. — With summer upon us, I have been pleased to begin (re)introducing regular series of featured articles and columns on Victory Briefs Daily. One of these series is “Across America,” which will highlight squads across our country that compete in Lincoln-Douglas debate — local circuit, regional circuit, national circuit — and other forensic events.

Steven Schappaugh, the director of the University School Forensics Team, agreed to be interviewed for the second installment of “Across America.”

FOUNDED: 1983
FOUNDER: Presently Unknown

PRESENT DIRECTOR: Steven Schappaugh
PAST AND PRESENT ASSISTANT COACHES:

Chris Wilgos (assistant coach for Interpretation), Ernie Rose (Lincoln-Douglas debate consultant), David Kraft (Interpretation consultant), Mitch Blenden (Student Congress consultant), and Jenny Cook. “[Cook] currently is the Director of Arts for University School and is a full-time administrator in that capacity,” Schappaugh notes. “We are fortunate that she still makes time to work with kids.”

“We are in the process of hiring another assistant coach who will work in the school and be an Interpretation coach, but we are also in the midst of lining up public speaking, Interpretation and Public Forum Consultants for next year as well,” he adds. “Anyone interested can contact me via e-mail and if anyone is in the Miami area and interesting in helping start a policy program they should also feel free to contact me.”

Past Directors of Forensics include Jenny Cook, Dean Brooks, and Brent Pesola. “I do not recall or know who was in charge of the program prior to Brent Pesola,” notes Schappaugh. “My understanding from others in the school is that Brent restarted and revitalized the program and brought it to national prominence.”

EVENTS: “University School does all of the NFL main events with the exception of policy debate; however, we’d like to start policy debate soon. We also participate in Oral Interpretation, Declamation, Group Interp and Impromptu through the CFL and FFL Leagues.”

How do you recruit new students at the beginning of each season?

At the start of the season there is a clubs fair for all students in the school – it’s part of the 9-12 orientation process. At this fair we have a booth with pictures, trophies and team information. I staff the booth with older students so that they can reach out to students and if they express interest they give us their email address and Advisory in the school. Not only that, but we make announcements so that kids know they can come to our meetings at anytime and put posters around at the start of the year. Another great thing at our school is that we have faculty members who are actively suggesting kids to try Forensics and I get emails from teachers with names or I have kids who show up and say that a teacher sent them. Finally, one of the biggest assets is getting team members to actively recruit kids that they are associated with who they think would be positive contributors to the program.

What makes speech and debate at your program special?

We are fortunate to have a growing squad and despite the increase in numbers there is still a family feel to the entire program. Students are given important leadership positions on the team to help make decisions, meet goals and expand opportunities for every kid who does speech and debate. We travel to many tournaments, bring in top-notch people to work with the students and have high expectations in all that we do. It certainly helps that we have an unbelievably supportive administration — from Jenny Cook as our Director of the Arts to the Upper School Director and all the way to the top with our Headmaster.

Are there any recent accomplishments about which your team is particularly proud

This year our team won the State Public Speaking Commendation and was the Manatee NFL District Sweepstakes Award winner. We are also proud of the tournament that we started (the Sunvitational, which will be held this coming season on January 8 and 9, 2010) and the success in numbers in terms of attendees, TOC bid status and out-of-state interest that has been created.

STUDENT TESTIMONIAL: Josh March, co-captain for the 2009-2010 season explains, “Being a member of the University School Forensics Team has been a fantastic experience for me. I have grown both as a participant and team leader, learning invaluable skills that have been helpful to me in all areas of my life. As a varsity extemporaneous speaker, I’ve learned how to think independently and critically about world events and to respond quickly and thoroughly to questions about current events. The team is like a second family, where everyone supports each other and shares in each others wins and losses. We have grown close as both teammates and friends. We have participated in increasingly challenging tournaments across the country as the team and have grown with the tremendous support of our school and coaches. Our efforts have met with increasing success across areas of competition. We have phenomenol coaches that both lead us to challenge ourselves and help us develop our own skills and individual styles. Their personal time and dedication leads us all to share the same level of commitment.”

“The thing I love about the University School Forensics Team is that it truly is a team, and every member is passionate about what he or she does,” adds Matthew Seely, incoming co-captain. “Not only do we support each other at tournaments, but we also support each other in class or in the halls at school. We also have team bonding nights where we all go out as a team just to have fun. At University School, we are more of a forensics family than a team. We work every year to build our program and get as many kids involved as possible.

“I compete in speech events, particularly Duo and HI,” he continues. “What I love about Duo is that it forces character development. You can’t just count on lines to make a character, because half of your performance is a reaction to your partner. Another thing I love about duo is that you’re never alone; you always have your partner in rounds. However, the more tournaments I go to, the more people I meet. Now I find myself walking into HI rounds at national tournaments and I’m almost always able to identify at least one of my fellow competitors. I got into forensics to improve my public speaking, but I stay in it because of the friends I’ve made around the country.”

PHOTOGRAPH: The University School Team takes a photo after their State Tournament successes — Sweepstakes Champions in Public Speaking, runners-up in Interpretation and third place overall, a first-time ranking in overall sweepstakes for the team.

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