So, Sometimes I think my biggest mistake in high school was only competing in Speech & Debate for two years. I revisited that mistake in college, only competing on the policy squad for two years. I always wondered what could have been if I had the time to transform all my potential into technical skill. I guess I’ll never know. But as unsettling as that’s been I can rest easy knowing that my time in forensics has easily been more formative than any other set of experiences in my life (and trust me, that’s saying a lot). Leaving our team behind will be the hardest part of transitioning out of my life as a student and into my new role as……a young professional in the Kazakh health industry. Debate inspired me to challenge everything, think outside of the box, and imagine the unimaginable. It transformed me from a young idealistic prick to a slightly older, slightly more idealistic, better informed, chain-smoking prick. And I like that. I could write pages about each of you. Both speechers and debaters. Bilbo said it best “I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” I guess I should especially mention one person. Vas. For those of you who haven’t worked with her (and for the ingrates that have), Vas is the most amazing partner anyone could ever ask for. She kept me going whenever I wanted to quit. She enabled me to read really stupid arguments that were blatantly unfair (and it worked). She made each and every tournament worth going to because more important than our competitive success – we had so much fun together. I wish I had another year to debate with you Vas. That’s all I have. Wish me luck.
Fondly,
Simon