The Great Debate

Tuesday, October 11

5:50 pm

"Hi, this is XX with the Utah Debate Coalition. Are you close?"

"I am walking through the doors right now!"

I was already 5 minutes late. Oops. Starting off strong. 

I walked into Itineris Early College High School, a charter school in West Jordan, and was ushered into the classroom where the debate would be held and then immediately whisked off into the hallway where Christina, the moderator, the time keeper, and I could discuss rules and do the coin toss to determine who would give the opening statement first. I called heads, and the coin landed on tails. It looked like Christina would get to give the final closing statement at the end. Christina also asked for an adjustment for a 2-minute opening statement as compared to a 90 second opening statement. They looked at me to confirm that I was okay with that, and I said, "I thought it was 2 minutes the whole time, so that sounds great."

The majority of Christina's supporters were already seated and in the front 1-3 rows with a couple of extra seats on the end. Cameron sat in the front row on the side right where I could see him. He was so supportive, but I'll dedicate an entire post to him another time. 

I was nervous, but I was also excited. It was here. The debate I had been prepping for the past 3 weeks was finally here. Freedom was around the corner and the excitement was palpable. Christina had her laptop with her, which I didn't know you could do. I spread out all of my notes and flashcards on the tiny podium stand, but smiled confidently and looked around the room. My people slowly filtered in: Alisa Webb, the social worker at my school; Kiera Beddes and Brooke Anderson, my Utah Teacher Fellow friends; Cameron's mom and dad; my debate coaches and Elevate Strategies founders: Jackie Morgan and Gabi Finlayson (plus my team of people, Sara et. al), Julia and Ricky Andrus came in a little late, and finally, a couple of my students: the infamous Jaxon and Olivia. I felt like I had someone represented from every facet of my life, and I felt supported and happy.

I felt really good at about my opening statement. Christina listed her many accolades and accomplishments and said that she was there tonight because of her children. She was showing up as a parent first, a teacher second. I shared a story about my students - because they are my kids. 

Yesterday morning I went to school for an IEP (the parents didn't show up) before heading to my district training. I had already cried in Stephanie Swensen's room because I was just so unbelievably tired. We love crying at school right before you have to conduct a meeting with parents and a variety of team members. But it all felt worth it when my dear 11th grade student who has been struggling with attending school, but visits my classroom multiple times a day when he is at school, walked in and handed me his car keys. He said, "Ms. Damron, I'm going to all of my classes because of your text yesterday." 

I ended up sharing that exact story in my opening statement at the debate. 

Driving to Itineris Charter School, I felt pretty calm. I told myself that I was doing this because of my students. And then I thought of specific students and our relationship. I thought about how I am uniquely prepared for a position on the State School Board because of these relationships. And I knew that no matter what question came my way, I could fall back on my experiences and my love of my students. And I did just that. 

My goal was to show up as a regular human - a teacher who loves her students and has the qualified expertise. My goal was to share stories and connect each question with a personal experience from my classroom. I did just that. Sure, when one woman asked if I believed that socialism is infiltrating schools she didn't approve of my answer and looked at her friend with one of those "See? She's not good" sort of stares, but I didn't mind. And when they planted two children in the audience with questions, I thought, "Well played Christina...well played."

I'll share more of the commentary from after the debate in a separate post. but overall, I would do it again. My campaign team did such a phenomenal job preparing me, I think I could do it again, and get even better.