Thursday Thing to Read: NFL as an Honorary Society
January 12, 2006 – 9:40 pm by: Adam JacobiRufus King’s Head Coach of Speech and Debate, Adam Jacobi offers today’s Thrusday Thing to Read. I felt that this piece is an appropriate one, given that the 2006 NFL qualifiers starts in Wisconsin tomorrow. Mr. Jacobi’s piece examine’s the National Forensics League as dual function organization.
The Third NFL: The National Forensics League as an Honors Society
By: Adam Jacobi, Head coach at Rufus King
The National Forensic League (NFL) is as much an honorary society as it provides a league for competition. The NFL allows for a variety of methods of team recognition and awards within a school’s chapter. In this column, inspired by a similar one on Victory Briefs Daily I’ve shared how Rufus King’s treatment of NFL as an honor society has positively impacted our program.
Rufus King is an urban magnet school that places a high premium on academics. Prior to the present momentum our program has built, Forensics was more or less of an afterthought to the academic/quiz teams, which enjoyed some national success and a great deal of clout under their adviser’s tutelage. Additionally, we have an active National Honor Society, foreign language honor societies, and a MU Alpha Theta (math) honor society.
By leveraging the “honor society” nature of the NFL, we have really elevated the stature of Forensics within our school. We have bestowed NFL honorary memberships to our principal, a supportive teacher, and a legislator. As the coach, I have submitted my forensic service for awards from the NFL national office, to model a behavior I think is important: for students to continue to give back to forensics throughout their life (thank you, NFL Executive Secretary Scott Wunn for framing that “Secretary’s Challenge” during awards at the 2005 national tournament).
Within the culture of our team, accumulating NFL points has become a great incentive for students to become more deeply and broadly involved in the activity. It encourages students to attend more meets, and for debaters (fall season) to continue participating in a speech event and/or congress during the spring season. Moreover, the “Service Speaking” merit point structure NFL offers encourages students to engage community/civic/faith groups in public speaking, debates, discussions and other initiatives. One of my students became quite involved in our local municipality’s youth council, which actually sets block grant policies for youth initiatives. Since the meetings are facilitated and attended by adults — as well as broadcast to the entire city — this is a perfect example of practical forensic skills applied in the real world, the essence of NFL’s mantra, “preparing youth for leadership.”
Finally, the special honorary awards the NFL offers rounds out the recognition I can bestow on my students. Students enjoy wearing patches on their letter jackets, and pins on their lapels at competitions. Our school is also unique in the respect that we’re also an athletic powerhouse, so it is not uncommon to see a letter jacket adorned with both athletic and academic patches! At graduation, our school only allows students to wear honor cords for nationally-accredited organizations. So, NFL is yet another cord students can proudly wear as they march to “Pomp and Circumstance.”
In the end, I really appreciate the honorary society facet of NFL as much as the competition league it offers. NFL legendary secretary Bruno Jacob is often quoted as espousing membership in the society as its most sacred value — above all else. When you consider the intangible friendships, memories and experience forensic activities provide, the honor society membership represents those qualities more than competition or trophies alone.