You’ve Graduated, Now What? An Alumni Guide For Staying Involved

The other day I was walking back to my dorm room on my college campus, and was surprised to find a familiar sight: scores of students in debate attire moving hastily to rooms, mumbling arguments, and checking their phones for round pairings. After a year out of the activity, this sight made me think of the thousands of alumni who graduate from high school (and their debate involvement) and never see an opening to kindle that passion anymore.

There are certainly levels to this. By most estimations there is the disillusioned debater, the casual debater, and the debate-centric participant. All three of these individuals have their own views on speech and debate upon graduating high school, but believe it or not staying involved beyond graduation isn’t an experience that is exclusive to the debate-centric individual. Typically a few months after accepting their diploma former participants in speech and debate will ask, ‘what’s next?’ That is a question that this article seeks to explore for all three varying levels of commitment, and offers a path forward for those who don’t want their passion for the activity to become an ever-distant memory.

First there is the ‘disillusioned debater’, who is defined by individuals who are actively ready to move on in their lives, potentially hold no interest in staying involved, or (arguably most crucial) individuals who have to balance painful memories associated with speech and debate.

Approaching engagement with disillusioned debaters is a difficult balancing act as there may be painful personal traumas or frustrations associated with their debate experiences. In this sense, a great way to balance this pursuit of moving on and staying engaged is through word-of-mouth advocacy. This doesn’t always mean a massive commitment, but rather sharing one’s stories of their frustrations with debate to make the community more aware of inequities is a great way to stay engaged. Beyond this, the largest bit of encouragement that can be offered to this group is to find applications for their debate skills in whatever passion they choose to pursue.

Next with the ‘casual debater’, they can be defined as a participant who occasionally dabbled at their local circuit or perhaps ventured onto the national scene once or twice. For these casual debaters, the itch to return to debate may be guided by a sense of nostalgia and fate that leads them back to speech and debate. Specifically, there are a multitude of manners in which they can remain involved within the speech and debate community. There is always the occasional judging opportunity that can draw in competitors. For example, a tournament in their local area or being asked to judge for their alma mater while they are back in town can be an appealing way to see colleagues and friends once more.

For the casual alumni, perhaps the greatest way to stay involved and give back to the community would be to do just that: find local tournaments, and offer judging services every so often. Whether one has moved away or stayed local, these opportunities are typically available and will come to the delight of many tournaments that are short on judges. If one finds themselves away from the circuit they competed in due to college or career, a great way to find these opportunities is through accessing the ‘offer hired judging’ tab on Tabroom or by scrolling through local tournaments on the site. In this case, there are ways for alumni to offer services for free and to potentially earn some compensation for their time. Regardless, the occasional judging experience is a fantastic way to stay engaged within the community whenever that old desire returns periodically.

Finally, there is the debate-centric alumni, who spent a large amount of time and effort during their 6-12 experience actively participating at tournaments. Frankly, if you’ve made it this far into this article the odds are that you fall in this last group. For this group, the biggest question in terms of post-high school involvement is the amount of time you have, because this group holds perhaps the most room for involvement, yet varying levels of commitment for each avenue one chooses. While there are certainly avenues to compete in collegiate debate, this article will focus on more casual avenues as college

debate opportunities vary by post-graduate plans.

Some low-level commitments for this last group to stay involved in through joining the NSDA Alumni Community. This opportunity, which is free to all, is a way to stay connected with updates from the national circuit and is a fantastic way to find other opportunities. In many ways, joining the alumni community serves as a great jumping off point to fuel continued involvement. In that same spirit, there is the Alumni Ambassador program which gives alumni a greater role in spreading awareness around speech and debate. Further, the ambassador program gives members a chance to play a role in

shaping the national image of this activity to potential future members.

With those jumping off points in mind, the next obvious commitment for a debate-centric alumni would be to engage in judging. Similar to the casual debater, looking for local tournaments is a great way to stay involved. However, while there may be regional barriers to judging at ‘local’ tournaments based on one’s current location, there are ample online judging opportunities such as the Springboard Series. Not only is this a great way to stay engaged in the activity, but it also gives alumni a much more flexible structure where they can volunteer whenever it works best for them.

Finally, there is the most expensive form of volunteering for this final group, volunteering as a coach or resource creator for speech and debate. It should go without saying that this is a massive commitment in some regards and means that you will have obligations towards others that you shouldn’t take on unless you are fully prepared. This could mean contacting local programs and seeing if they need an assistant coach, or going through the NSDA to find areas of need. In addition to that, one can also volunteer through non-profit debate organizations such as Equality in Forensics, Space Camp, or Outreach Debate among others.

Ultimately, no matter whether you are a disillusioned alumni, a casual alumni, or a debate-focused alumni there is always a place for you within the debate community. Opportunities arise each day, and it is never too late to give back or stay involved in speech and debate.