Investing in students..seems to pay off

Perhaps the only thing I regret about leaving debate is the continued, close connection with debaters. Thank goodness for Facebook -- which lets me keep track of some of them... I thought it was time for an update...

D2 -- graduated from his R1 -- and took a long road trip. D2's adventurous spirit demanded a trip like that. He's back home.. but, I'm not sure what he's up to.

V -- is sitting for the bar this week. He has the potential to be a good attorney, but things could also go tragically wrong..

P - went to grad school out of state for a bit -- coached for a bit -- and ended up settling back in BNstate -- He seems to be happy on his own -- which is a good thing.

D -- is in grad school at an R1, in something to do with political activism. He seems to be doing quite well. He's still in transition, or perhaps he's evolving.

C -- is the only one who's married -- and he has a child. He'll be a fantastic dad --- he's got a good, goofy sense of humor and a good set of core values. He's also ambitious and willing to take a risk -- and to risk looking like a fool.

Moonshadow -- is quite a puzzle. She's completed a degree at her R1, but now seems to spend a great deal of time travelling... most recently to Scandinavia. I think that, overall -- she's a free spirit, so who knows where she'll end up...

Kat -- is in a graduate program for clinical psych..

Rex -- last I knew, he was living in Red State managing a restaurant... didn't finish a degree and didn't stay with the debater he moved there with...

Sunshine -- died almost a year ago, in a car accident. Last year about this time she was staying with me -- taking refuge from some bad family and men... but, at the very end she met someone special -- and was on the way home to see him when she was killed.

Bex -- She's always had her life together -- at least on the surface. Now I think she's got many things lined up -- a really nice guy who adores her, an academic career path she can achieve. I'm confident she'll finish her Ph.D. from Red State U -- Which will be a great thing, since her greatest fault as a debater was the fact that she didn't trust her own instincts about arguments, so she often defaulted to P's vision of the round.

D1 -- he's the biggest change. From a student in my Intro to Phil class, who barely managed a C -- to a star debater in a super-star debate program (not mine ---), with a full debate scholarship... to a prestigious coaching fellowship at an R1 and writing a thesis on an important topic.