Stephen's TV Appearance / Graduation

After winning the national speech and debate tournament in both debate and over-all best speaker in speech, Stephen and other top competitors were invited to appear on the local San Diego Fox affiliate. Immediately after the broadcast was over the hosts asked the students to come back the following week, so maybe I'll be adding a second link here shortly.

http://www.fox5sandiego.com/videobeta/a65388e0-bfff-4c81-8b46-1d585bc44cd9/Community/Debate-Tournament-Kids-Show-Us-Their-Stuff

...for some reason I cannot make this link live, but you can paste it into your browser to see the video link from the live broadcast.

Here is the graduation announcement text (you'll have to imagine the photos that were in the original).

It is hard to believe that this cute kid has become the wonderful young man below in just a few short years! He has had a wonderful homeschool high school career and we are very proud of his many accomplishments. We are most pleased, however, with the character demonstrated by our son. By God’s grace, he desires to honor God with his life and to serve Him in all ways.

Stephen faithfully and joyfully volunteers weekly at an orphanage where he tutors children needing remedial help. It is a highlight in his week as well as for the young ones he helps. He has been engaged in our ministry here in Tijuana, helping with short term teams, translating, preparing newsletters, and many other things. Stephen has been actively involved in both sides of the border. This year, he has developed great leadership skills by serving his speech and debate team in California as research captain, leading and coordinating the club’s research efforts. He has also been honored as a Commended National Merit Scholar.

On May 28th, Stephen completed his high school speech and debate career at the national tournament with success unprecedented in the league. He qualified for the national tournament in five speech events and also in debate. This invitational tournament included more than 300 of the best speech and debate competitors across multiple home school leagues nationwide. Stephen was the only competitor who advanced into finals in all six events. He and his partner, Jeriel Burke, won first place in team policy debate. In his five speech events, he won first place in Open Interpretation, second place finishes in both Duo Interpretation (with his partner, Jarah Burke) and Humorous Interpretation, third place in Impromptu Speaking, and a fourth place in Apologetics. This unprecedented finish in five of the tournament’s most competitive events earned Stephen the Speech Sweepstakes award for the most winning speech competitor at the tournament. Not surprisingly after winning the top prize for both speech and debate, Stephen was crowned as the Tournament Grand Champion! There has never before been a competitor to win all of these titles in a single national tournament. Wow! What pleases us most, however, are the many students and parents who have told us how Stephen has humbly and consistently encouraged younger competitors during the year and how he treats everyone with respect and honor. In the league, he is known for his character as much as he is for his speaking and debating skills.

During the last two years, Stephen has been involved in a program called CollegePlus! through which he has been earning college credits. He has received enough college credits to be a college senior. Stephen plans to continue his education through Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey. He will be able to do most of his remaining college work from home in Tijuana. He plans to graduate with a BA in Communications in 2011. Specific career direction is still being investigated, although he would like to remain in Tijuana for a time to become more fluent in Spanish, after which he is seeking internship opportunities to gain career knowledge and experience in his areas of interest: oral and written communications, graphic arts, learning and teaching, entertaining, and spending time with kids.

Join us in praising God for our wonderful son and continue to keep him in your prayers as he seeks God’s direction for his life.

Dios les bendiga (God bless ya’ll),

Morgan and Patti Roe

June 2010