About me
I've been in JSA since my freshmen year. My first debate in JSA was a black lives matter debate and it was honestly fun: I went against the former mayor of the AR and actually, that's not even the interesting part. Originally, someone else from my school was supposed to debate, but she didn't show up. So, my advisor, Coach Morales, was asking for someone to replace her from our school and I was like "Might as well try." The resolution was (resolved, that the black lives mater movement does more harm than good.) Honestly, I was petrified of going on the contrary; I wasn't expecting for there to be many people of color in the room, and I certainly wasn't prepared for the debate. On top of all that, I only had one block to prepare for the debate. Half of the block I was on google and the other half I was writing on the back of my receipt and a napkin. Going into the debate my heart was racing they told me to start off by saying this is my first time debating and then go right into it. So after hearing my opponent speak, I wanted to go home. I started off with the obvious, "This is my first time debating" and I got the awe claps. That gave me a bit of a confidence boost. So, I went right into and when I say, "I sucked" I mean I SUCKED. There was no prospect of me winning, but then my advisor called me over. He told me, "Okay, so that sucked. Use the note, fix yourself, and end this." So exactly what he told me to do I did and this is when stuff got interesting. I explained what I couldn't explain correctly in 6mins in 2 and ended on this. "I am going to change this up a bit" I walked over to the resolution and said "now that I think about it The Black Lives Matter movement does do more harm" quick little pause "more harm to racism, oppression, and inequality thank you." Instantly every one clapped for me that's when I fell in love with JSA. See, even though I started off by stabbing myself in the leg I had the chance to pull it out and fix my mistakes. The reason I can remember this so clearly is that it taught me two huge lessons.
Lesson One: NEVER be afraid to try the worst thing that could happen if you fail and learn something new. Lesson Two: NEVER QUIT. I am serious NEVER QUIT it doesn't matter how you start off what matters is how you finish so always follow through and finish strong. It only takes one moment to stand up and change the outcome so wait for it and when it comes take it. All this being said to the people who have asked me why I decided to run I saw an opportunity to make real change and grow as a leader so I took the chance and to those who have asked me why I haven't quite yet, simple its not about how badly I stabbed my leg at the beginning its about how long I'm willing to leave it there and how I finish the race. I'm waiting for my moment the first time it happened it was during my closing statement so just wait for that.
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Trophies don't go to the ones that got a good beginning.” |