Wisconsin Forensics Daily

West Bend East’s Doris Sexton Retiring After 32 Years of Coaching

Wisconsin is losing one of its longest tenured coaches next season and one of the most active contributors to the state’s forensic community. After 32 years as the head coach of West Bend East High School’s debate and forensics programs and after providing countless hours of service to the broader community, Doris Sexton is hanging up her timers and textbooks and sailing off into retirement.

After studying communication at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Sexton returned to her alma mater and began her tenure at West Bend East in 1975. Since then, she has taught thousands of students the art of speech as both a teacher and coach and has been an indispensable contributor to the Wisconsin Debate Coaches’ Association, the Wisconsin Forensics Coaches’ Association, and the Southern Wisconsin District of the National Forensic League. Her students have won numerous state championships and hundreds have qualified for the National Forensic League National Tournament and the National Catholic Forensic League Grand Nationals.

Sexton became a member of the National Forensic League in 1966 as a high school debater and speaker. As a coach, she earned her first diamond in 1984, her second in 1990, and her third in 1997. She was elected to the Wisconsin Debate Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame in 1992-1993, becoming just the twelfth inductee into this prestigious circle of coaches. She received the Wisconsin Forensics Coaches’ Association Bill Hintz Memorial Coach of the Year Award in 1995.

Beyond the contributions she has made to her own program, Sexton has made incredible sacrifices to serve the greater Wisconsin debate and forensics community. She has served as the Chair of the Southern Wisconsin District for many years, earning a District Chair Gold Award in 1995. She served as President of the Wisconsin Debate Coaches’ Association in 1983-1984 and 1991-1992 and as President of the Wisconsin Forensic Coaches’ Association in 1994-1995. She has also served as Treasurer of the latter organization for the past ten years after taking over for Ty Wesley of Sheboygan South for the 1996-1997 season.

Sexton’s career was honored in an article in the West Bend Daily News on July 3rd. The full text of that article is reproduced below; because the Daily News does not archive its stories online, consider this a WFD exclusive.

Maersch, Mitch. “Vigor of Speech: Sexton Took The Intimidation Out Of Class,” West Bend Daily News, July 3, 2007, p. B10.

It took all of one high school debate practice for Doris Sexton to make an impression on Rebecca Ryan.

Sexton’s acronym for how to win every debate stood out, in part because she wrote it in huge letters on the chalkboard: Significance, Harms, Inherency, Topicality and Solvency.

“She then went on to explain how to structure each of the ‘SHITS’ arguments,” Ryan said. “At the end of her session, I knew I’d never forget how to structure my case, and I thought ‘She is cool!’”

Sexton and her husband, Steve, coached the West Bend East debate team for about 30 years, winning a state title in the mid-1990s, and coached forensics for about as long. For 34 years, Doris taught the class that perhaps shoots fear down students’ spines more than any other: speech.

Sexton last month received a note from a student who admitted dreading her class at the beginning of the semester. By the end, the student had gotten the hang of it.

“Better than paychecks, those little notes,” she said.

Sexton retired this year, leaving some big shoes to fill for the next person to teach taking the scare out of speaking.

“It’s so funny that they’re terrified. You know it really isn’t as tough as you think it is,” she said. “Very, very seldom over all these years have I had somebody freeze up.”

It wasn’t as tough for the dynamic Ryan (formerly Rebecca Schwoch), who qualified for national debates several times in high school. She went on to found Next Generation Consulting and she regularly charges thousands of dollars to give speeches to hundreds of people about attracting and retaining Generation X employees. Ryan called Sexton one of her “most influential high school teachers.”

“Doris is no one’s fool. She’s skeptical–sometimes she seemed cranky–but I think that’s because she expected kids not to be jerks,” Ryan said. “Debate can be very intense: It’s your evidence and ability to argue compared to the other team. And sometimes, the other team had better evidence, or more persuasive debaters. I don’t think Doris cared so much if we lost on evidence or skills, but I always sensed that she expected us to do our best. For me, this was very motivating. I don’t remember Doris ever yelling at me or criticizing me; I always remember feeling like she had high expectations, which was far more mobilizing.”

Sexton remembers her former star debater as well.

“She was amazingly talented,” she said.

Talented or not, Sexton emphasizes the importance of speech.

“I think communication is the important part of life, period,” she said,” whether it’s on the job, diplomatic or talking with friends over the dinner table.”

Talking and listening is done so often “it’s like breathing,” she said. Newspapers, books and TV don’t add up to the amount people talk.

Being able to teach that became her passion.

“To be honest, I don’t know I would have been happy doing other things,” she said.

A debater and forensics member herself, the 1967 West Bend High School grad came to know longtime coach John Steinbach, who helped inspire her career.

“That kind of sealed the deal,” she said.

The two became friendly rivals when Sexton began coaching East and Steinbach headed up West.

“I didn’t dare let those East kids come in second to those West kids,” she said.

Kids, she said, are where it’s at.

“If I weren’t around people who were lots younger, I’d be feeling a lot older than I am today,” she said.

Sexton is quick to catch on to teen lingo and pop culture, and she is savvy enough to use it.

“If someone says something first hour, I can impress second hour,” she said.

She sure impressed her principal.

“When Doris enters a room, the energy of the room changes–she is so dynamic, energetic and infectious that she brings everyone around her to a higher level. She is a favorite teacher among all students from our most gifted to our studnets dealing with the greatest challenges,” said Cassandra Schug. “She always takes the time to recognize all the people who make this school work, for example, every year, she makes a home-cooked meal complete with homemade cheesecake for the office staff.”

Sexton ate plenty in class. Students often cooked for demonstration speeches. Teens’ talent in the kitchen ran as big a gamut as their speaking skills.

“They all walk around with samples,” Sexton said,” and I’m thinking, oh my goodness.”

Sexton did, however, learn from her students as well.

“I could probably beat out Ken Jennings in ‘Jeopardy,’ I’ve heard so many speeches about everything,” she said. The Loch Ness monster seems to be an annual favorite, she said.

What she couldn’t do is help students if they had problems with their Power Point presentations.

“They’ll say I can’t make it work. Oh please, make it work. I’m from the pencil and gradebook era,” she said.

Whether it worked or not, students received respect.

“She expected us to behave like grown-ups and she treated us that way,” Ryan said. “And even though her humor was dry and her demeanor was sometimes acerbic, she always had a good word for you. We’d run into her after a round of debate and she’d ask, ‘How’d it go?’ We’d always tell her the truth. We didn’t have to sugar coat it for her, because she was so even in her temperament. The best compliment you could get from Doris was, ‘Good for you, kid.’ I remember her calling us ‘kid’ a lot.

“I also remember that she didn’t care if we called her ‘Doris.’ We didn’t have to call her ‘Mrs. Sexton.’ She wasn’t much for formalities, if they didn’t tie to results.”

Once a kid herself, Sexton remembers seeing some of those same teachers as colleagues after she earned her education degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Some of those teachers she considered “ancient.”

“What are they still doing here?” she said. “Lo and behold, I have become the ancient.”

Sexton still lives in West Bend. She and Steve have two children, both of whom were in debate and forensics. Steve is an economics teacher at Greenfield High School.

Hours after Doris finishes teaching summer school, her plane for Europe leaves. Other retirement plans including talking to the dog and walking around the block.

And perhaps she might head up a new organization.

“She would cringe if we formed a fan club, but I’d certainly be in it,” Ryan said.

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