Clark High’s debate coach honored for success

Clark High School teacher Robin Brown can make a pretty strong case when it comes to her expertise as a speech and debate coach.

Brown has been leading Clark’s speech and debate team for seven of her eight years teaching at the school, and this year she is one of 10 coaches nationwide being honored with her first Diamond Award by the National Speech & Debate Association. She is the only coach from Las Vegas being honored.

The award recognizes coaches’ longevity and their teams’ success. To get the first Diamond Award, a teacher must have been coaching for at least five years, and his or her teams must have earned 15,000 points. A coach receives 10 percent of that score (1,500 points), according to the association.

It takes a long time to get 15,000 points, said Clark speech and debate team President Angelo Robledo, 18.

“For students, it’s a little bit more direct,” he said, adding that he has earned 1,035 points, ranking him in the top 20 in the state.

Brown said she doesn’t love being the center of attention.

“It’s also shared with the kids; I’m glad it was this group I got it with, because I’m close with this group of seniors.”

Brown also teaches AP English Language and Composition at Clark and is part of the Golden Desert District Leadership Committee. Speech and debate runs in her family, as both of her parents competed in high school and college, and they also were teachers and coaches.

Brown and other honorees will be recognized at a ceremony at the association’s national competition June 17-24 in Birmingham, Alabama. Brown said she isn’t sure she will attend, and that she’d rather go to support her students if they qualify to participate in the competition.

Her team has four tournaments left, including the qualifying district tournament March 30 to April 1 at Desert Oasis High School, which will determine whether any of Clark’s students move on to the national competition.

When Brown started coaching, Clark’s speech and debate team was ranked 15th in the district. It’s now No. 5. Brown has helped qualify five students for the national competition, mostly recently in 2015.

The students agreed that Brown’s style of allowing students teach one another has been a key factor in the team’s progression. She selects senior to be captains of groups and teach specific events they are best at.

“You learn so much more by teaching it than just by receiving the information, and frankly they are much more of an expert on these events than I am because they do them,” Brown said.

The team also attributes its success to growth. A few years ago, the team was composed of about 25 students, but now there are more than 60 who compete regularly.

Sharvari Gupta, 17, a senior who serves as the team’s secretary, said she joined three years ago because of the team’s positive environment.

“When you come in here, it’s not like people are by themselves working on their events; it’s everyone trying to work together,” she said.

Rezvan Egi, 18, who is also a senior, said Brown’s non-competitive coaching style has made the team stronger.

“She doesn’t care if you go 0 to 3 (in debates),” Egi said. “She wants to get you out of your comfort zone, and that’s something that she’s working at every single year.”

Brown she said her main goals are for the students to have fun and to reach their potential individually.

“When they’re actually taking these skills and are making real-world impacts with those skills, for me that’s the real payoff,” she said. National Speech and Debate Education Day is March 3.

To reach View intern reporter Kailyn Brown, call 702-387-5233 or email kbrown@viewnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KailynHype.