Hi, my name John Villanueva I'm a graduating senior at the University of Nevada, Reno majoring in secondary education with a focus in English and minor in Communication Studies.

I'm currently in Reno on my balcony. Recently, I participated in the National Online Forensics Tournament competing in two different debate events. With being honors in my one versus one event and superior in my two versus two event with my partner Nicki Moore, a junior at the University of Nevada, Reno. To put it simply, if it was a bronze, silver and gold award, the superior award would be the gold award. And, my partner and I would be the gold award at the special tournament.

Debating requires several different skills. First it requires you to be a clear communicator. It also requires you to have good representation of your opponents arguments and it requires you to have sound evidence to support your own. That means my partner and I were able to hit all three of those points and claim the national championship.

I love debate because it enhances my argumentative skills and my public speaking skills. I love debate because it makes me closer to my peers and has a really unique social aspect. I also love debate because it makes me a better political activist in my society. And in fact, I want to continue being a part of this debate community so I can instill these same loves in a future generation. Particularly, I want to teach high school and coach high school debate so my students can also gain the ability to become good political activists and engage with the political spectrum.

I want to shout out my entire debate team, you've been awesome to me these last five years. I also want to have a shout out to my coach, Professor Phillip Sharp. He's been an awesome coach. And I want to congratulate the entire class of 2020. We made it!