Community Impact Report 2021
In the midst of uncertain times, our community remained focused on supporting a new generation of leaders. Our collective commitment to innovation, access, and equity allowed students to engage in speech and debate anywhere in the world. Whether they were competing or using their skills to serve their communities, our students had opportunities to shine. And wow, did they shine. Join us in celebrating the impact of speech and debate in 2021 and the students, coaches, administrators, and supporters who made it possible.
CONNECT
Speech and debate activities provide students with a space to connect, compete, and use their voice. Despite distancing guidelines, we were still able to connect with each other through the speech and debate community!
Through speech and debate, I learned what it meant to belong to a community. This is where I made lifelong friendships and discovered who I am.
National Tournament
After a year of virtual speech and debate, the 2021 National Tournament was again held online. Students and coaches across the world showed up to compete in the largest National Tournament yet!
Making sure every student continues to have access to speech and debate activities is a top priority for our organization. NSDA Campus continued to host online competitions throughout the 2020-2021 school year. Since May 2020, NSDA Campus has facilitated more than 100,000 rooms of competition!
We were going to have to raise our prices substantially to use a different platform, but we were actually able to lower our prices and make the tournament more accessible to students because of the affordability of NSDA Campus.
As more tournaments were held online, Tabroom.com continued to support increased traffic, rolled out new features, and allowed students to compete from anywhere.
SUPPORT
We provide the resources to support your journey, whether you’re a new team or have been at it for years! We are also here to answer any questions you might have along the way.
Customer Service Testimonials
The NSDA was responsive, organized, and helpful.
I called with a lot of concerns and questions, and they patiently walked me through every step and every process. I love their cheerful and helpful attitude, patience, and outstanding customer service! Thank you from our school, we are thankful!
Setting Teams Up For Success
We’re experts in prep time. This year, we launched our Start Here series, a collection of grab-and-go lesson plans for middle and high school speech and debate coaches to use in class or after school. Our monthly resources for practice, performance videos, and instructional tools are all designed to streamline your team management and take as much work off your plate as possible. We are committed to providing resources that support you along your journey with speech and debate.
Meeting Your Needs
We continue to provide financial support to speech and debate teams across the country! In 2020-2021, more than $325,000 was awarded to teams and students through grants and scholarships.
In order to support increased access to speech and debate, we launched the Springboard Series in October 2020. This series allowed access to free competition opportunities for students across the country! Thanks to the generosity of The Julia Burke Foundation, we will continue to host these events throughout the 2021-2022 school year.
Upholding Community Values
Honoring our mission to connect, support, and inspire a diverse community committed to empowering students, we strive diligently to ensure that the speech and debate community provides a safe space for all. Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, we worked to infuse an equity lens into a variety of things we do.
Explore the detailed action steps we took to meet these commitments!
INSPIRE
Awards and recognition are an important part of our work to celebrate the inspired action you take throughout the year! This year, students, coaches, and schools earned distinction through speech and debate competition, academic excellence, community service, public speaking, and leadership activities.
I think the most important thing that we can do as speech and debaters is show others that their voice matters too.
I love attending tournaments because it gives me an opportunity to perform and get feedback on my piece. I also love being able to watch other performers and laughing and reacting to their pieces. It is inspiring to see so many kids like me that enjoy doing speech and debate.
Student Recognition
Celebrating students is a highlight of every year! Along with competitive success, we are excited to celebrate that over 315,000 service points were earned in the 2020-2021 school year. We are inspired by all your leadership, caring, and service throughout the year!
There are a lot of reasons for why I believe that speech and debate students should be advocates. For one, speech and debate, without a doubt, equips you with the skills and the tools necessary to be the best advocate, the ability to collect information, to articulate yourself in a way that is clear and understandable. Those skills make for the best form of advocacy.
Coach Recognition
Coaches play an important role in this community, working tirelessly to support and inspire students through speech and debate activities. Despite a year of constant shifting, you all showed up to make speech and debate happen for your students.
Here are just a few of the many coaches whose involvement we recognized this year.
Program Recognition
While gatherings looked different again this year, you all found ways to connect, support, and inspire each other! We’re thankful for everyone who took the time to find creative and safe ways to celebrate speech and debate.
We look forward to reflecting on all the great things you will do in the upcoming year. Thank you for being a member of our community!
