Judge a speech-debate contest

Eons ago, the humor columnist Dave Barry wrote about his dismay at boarding an airplane and discovering the pilot was his own age. "I am my own age," he wrote (as best I can remember), "and I would never put a person such as myself in a position of responsibility."

That's how I felt when I served as a judge in a preliminary round of the poetry competition at the Jackson Hole High School Speech and Debate Team's annual tournament. About 200 teenagers from around the state came to the tournament, and there were some 250 judging slots that needed to be filled, so the organizers took all comers, including me.

I wish I could have told the six girls (no boys!) in my poetry round how nervous I was. If the rules hadn't prohibited oral comments by judges, I also would have told them how impressed I was with them and how much I admired their courage. They probably just saw a middle-age woman with a pen in her hand and scorecards on the desk. Their presentations ranged from excellent to average, but the girls themselves all seemed very poised an dedicated to what they're doing. I tried to be very detailed in my comments on the back side of the score cards so that the girls would know what they did well and where they could make improvements.

All in all, it took only two hours of my time. It was a fun "new thing" for me that I hope in some way will benefit the girls.