I manage between 11 and 17 high school and collegiate speech and debate tournaments each school year, requiring coordination between hundreds of judges and participants across multiple rooms and venues.
I regularly manage scheduling, assignments, and results tabulation of tournaments with over 750 entries, and several hundred judges, making sure that the competition runs on time, and has fair and accurate results.
For the past several years, I have also helped manage the speech judge pool for the National Speech and Debate Association's National Tournament. This role has required me to manage judge replacements, resolve conflicts, and calm people in moments of crisis or difficulty.
In 2023 I served on the Host Committee for the NSDA National Tournament here in the Valley. My responsibilities ranged from helping to fundraise over $60,000, to the coordination of over 400 volunteers across seven tournament sites during the week. I also assisted with location scouting and setup, and the creation of websites, posters, banners, advertisements, and stickers for donors and participants.
Nationals will return to the Phoenix area in 2027, and I will once again be serving on the host committee. The event brings thousands of participants and several million dollars in revenue to the Metro area, and our 2023 effort has been lauded as one of the best National Tournaments in memory. We aim to do even better in 2027.
I have also spent the past 17 years running a not-for-profit summer program for high school speech and debate. The Southwest Speech and Debate Institute has provided a top quality summer camp experience at an affordable price. We have served over 1500 students in the past 17 years, with multiple state champions, national qualifiers, and national finalists having spent time at our camp.
My responsibilities at SWSDI have included:
* Helping to manage the approximately $150,000 budget.
* Coordinating scheduling and curriculum across multiple labs.
* Hiring, training, and managing 15-30 staff each year.
* Coordinating two camp wide lecture series, including leadership lectures from prominent community members like Tempe Mayor Corey Woods, State Representative Lela Alston, and former State Superintendent of Public Schools Kathy Hoffman.
The impact of SWSDI goes beyond competitive success. The camp has been an integral part of creating an open and friendly community in Arizona Speech and Debate.