Last month, debate coach Jared Zuckerman was named the Kansas DCI Coach of the Year. Not only has Zuckerman won this award multiple times, but he also led the team to winning State four out of the five years Southwest has been open.

While many debate coaches are striving to win this award, Zuckerman isn’t in it for the trophy. “I enjoy  coaching debate simply because I believe it teaches some of the best skills any activity has to offer,” Zuckerman said. “ Sure, it’s nice to get the recognition; but watching my students grow through the years is much better

than any award could have to offer.” Zuckerman also said that winning the award was remarkable, but his focus now is preparing the team for upcoming tournaments.

Zuckerman has won the prestigious coach of the year award three times while coaching at
Southwest. Winning this award required a lot of work in and out of the debate room; constantly helping his students research and rewrite speeches.

In a typical week, Zuckerman spends around 12 hours after school coaching the team. “Zuck is always in the debate room before and after school to help out,” freshman Sumaya Hussaini said. “Our school definitely wouldn’t have had our success without him.”

Southwest is one of the only schools in the district that allows students to go to out of State tournaments through debate. Zuckerman managed to find the best tournaments around the nation for his students to compete in. “Zuck always pushes us to be our best during the season. I think all of us debaters really appreciate the hard work he puts into us.” Hussaini said.

By the end of the season, Zuckerman will have taken the varsity team to 10 travel tournaments, the majority of them being outside of Kansas.

“He gave us many opportunities to go to great debate tournaments around Kansas and national ones such as Chicago and Iowa. Mr. Zuckerman really helped make my freshmen year a one to remember,” Freshman Mera Hassan said.

Senior Chris Fry said that the team was able to go to so many travel tournaments simply because Mr. Zuckerman cares. “Any school in the district could go to these tournaments if they really wanted to,” Fry said. “it’s just that Zuck actually cares about us and our debate careers.”

Fry later said that Zuckerman was able to take the team on these trips by doing fundraisers at the beginning of the year to pay for all of the expenses.

Overall, the debaters can agree it’s no surprise that Zuckerman was nominated for coach of the year. From the countless hours helping his students prepare, to when he takes the team to national tournaments on his own time; students believe that Zuckerman truly deserved this award