STORM2K

Hi ya'll. I just got back in yesterday from spending 9 days at the National Speech and Debate Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. Each year in June thousands of students (the best of the best) come to compete in acting, public speaking, and debate events. Each event starts out with around 300 people in them. These are the regional winners. Eventually the group is whittled down to the top 6... the national finals. Nearly every year the same schools have students who place at the national tournament... the same schools who have massive budgets and are college prepatory academies.

This year, however, one of my students, Omar Qureshi, made it to the final round of International Extemporaneous Speaking. Yes, our school... with a budget of only $6,500.00 dollars a year... competing against programs with budgets averaging ten times that amount. He stood on that national stage and made our school proud, delivering one of the best speeches of his life. He wound up 2nd place in the nation. I couldn't be happier of his accomplishments.

Many often ask why I spend all of those hours working with the kids. The answer? For moments like this. If I never have another student make the national finals I will forever cherish the brief moment when the small school from Missouri was able to persevere and share the spotlight with the others. The look of pride and accomplishment on Omar's face will be with me for a lifetime.

Thanks for letting me share this joyous occasion with my S2K family!

Well done! Time you invest there will reap rewards for the rest of your and their lives.

Wow!!! Congratulations to Omar and to you!! Students don't get that good without SUPERB TEACHERS!!!!

Kudos to Omar and you!

Well done! You and Omar should be very proud and have every reason to crow about this.

I am humbled by people that have the patience and willingness to teach and help others.

Congrats to both Omar and you. That's quite an achievement.

Well, I'm going to serve as volunteer during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, will it be a Once In A Lifetime Experience, too?

I bet the Olympics will be the most exciting thing in your life also.

wyq614 wrote:Well, I'm going to serve as volunteer during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, will it be a Once In A Lifetime Experience, too?

I bet that will be an amazing experience as well. Good luck with that!

That's so great for Omar! It's teachers like you who change the world without getting proper recognition.

HarlequinBoy wrote:That's so great for Omar! It's teachers like you who change the world without getting proper recognition.

Thanks. I told him that I wanted to be his communication director when he becomes a politician. haha

Thats so awesome, he should be very proud of himself.