STOA National Tournament comes to Jackson

JACKSON, TN (WNBJ)-Stoa is a national speech and debate organization for middle and highschool age homeschoolers.

After a season of tournaments nearly 4 hundred and 50 students were invited to attend the national championship in Jackson.

Stoa is looking for 800 members of the community willing to come and judge debate rounds through Saturday the 29th.

“It’s just like you informally evaluate people every day. When you hear them speak you’re going, mhm yeah I like that speaker or these are the things that maybe bother me or distract me. We’re asking you to consider that with our students, give them valuable feedback, so they can keep improving,” says STOA Executive Director Angela Childress.

Judges will be fed and trained to judge debate rounds.

No prior experience is required.

Sean otto a union student who credits stoa as the reason he is at union says that anybody can be a judge.

“A lot of people have asked me or told me that they don’t feel qualified or they don’t have the credentials to do it but that’s not the case. Because when I was a competitor it didn’t matter who I was speaking to, it mattered who they were and how I could convince them… no matter what your background is it’s my job to convince you what I’m saying is right,” Union University student and STOA alumni Sean Otto says.

To register to be a judge go to uu.edu/judges