Students at more than 480 Iowa schools who take part in speech events need some local volunteers to help with the program. The Iowa High School Speech Association is training judges for debate, public speaking events, and contests around the state. The association’s director Crain Ihnen says you don’t have to be a professional speaker, teacher or any other kind of expert to help out the students. “You will not screw up a young person’s life by judging,” Ihnen chuckles. “In fact, we value the lay person’s opinion. The majority of our judges are not teachers.” From storytelling and poetry to readers theatre and after-dinner speaking, high-school students compete at the local level and then in state events. Ihnen says he’s hoping to get judge volunteers from all walks of life. They’re farmers, ministers, “house husbands and housewives,” radio announcers, gas station mechanics and people from all walks of life. Ihnen tells of getting a call recently from a hog farmer who realized he had spare time in the winter and decided he wants to be a part of the program. There are more than a dozen regional coaches’ sessions around the state later this month and early in October, and a “coaches convention” October fifteenth in Des Moines. Ihnen says they’ll help new volunteers meet experienced judges and give all the training they’ll need to feel comfortable working with the high-schoolers.You’ll become educated in what to do at the first meeting, and Ihnen assures volunteers they also won’t be alone. “We’ll never let you judge alone,” he explains. “You’ll always be on a panel of three,” and the other members will help a new member “zone in a little bit” when making decisions. Then there are extra training opportunities — a summer workshop, and “everything we can do to make our judges stronger.”
