In my days of debate I have seen a lot of things take place. The growth of critical debate in my regional rounds, the way critical debate has affected my relationship with some of the people in my life, and the interesting ways in which I meet people.
The door to my future opened as I was trying to formulate what I wanted to do with my life and devising ways to get there. I knew in my heart that it was debate.
When my mother told me about Loyola High School, a small Catholic school in Detroit, as an atheist my first thought was no. However, when my mother told me that they had a debate team, I was hooked. As the words left her lips, thoughts of how I could get into the school swirled through my mind. I told her that I wanted to go to Loyola, and she filled out the paper work to get me into the school.
As I wandered the halls of Loyola my freshman year, I looked for and found the captain of the debate team. He introduced me to the coach of the team, my geography teacher, Kathy Gross. We talked about what debate is and how I would fit into it. Then she informed me that we had two weeks until the first debate. Those two weeks were the worst of my debate career, but in the end, it paid off. When I went to my first debate, I won. That was one of the first lessons that I learned — perseverance pays off.
Four years later, I am now a varsity debater. I have not won all my debates, but I continue to learn, and better myself both as a person and a debater. I traveled to places for tournaments that I probably would not have gone otherwise. I have also met several influential people that are helping me to get into the college of my dreams.
The road has been long, but I have never been happier. I can say that the decision to attend Loyola and participate in debate was one of the best that I have made.