Senior Spotlight: Jaden Watt

Whether it’s being a sports team captain, top debater, class o cer or campus leader, senior Jaden Watt does it all.

He is a two-sport athlete, serving as a football captain last fall and a track team captain this spring. He is an accomplished debater. And he currently is vice president of the Black Student Union and vice president of the senior class.

Despite his extracurricular activities being so di erent, Watt has achieved success in multiple areas. Watt says that he has had to learn how to make sacri ces and manage his time e ectively to make his schedule work. “ ere are times where I can’t go to a track meet because I have a debate tournament,” Watt said. “For the football season, I wasn’t able to go to any debate tournaments. It’s always been a lot, even [Black Student Union], balancing that with school. ere are always tradeo s.”

Still, Watt takes pleasure in his various extracurricular pursuits.

“Even if it does seem like a lot, I enjoy doing it,” Watt said. “I really enjoy the Greenhill community and that’s why I do it.”

Watt says he discovered his passion for debate in sixth grade.

“As a kid, I felt like I enjoyed a variety of things,” Watt said. “And I was always very argumentative, so I actually discovered my love for debate a lot earlier than I did for my love of football.” ough he has participated in debate for several years, Watt says that he has placed extra emphasis on it this year. He set a goal for himself: to become the LincolnDouglas debater with the most qualifying points for the Texas Forensic Association’s State Tournament. participated in during the competitive season that began in October.

Watt participates in Lincoln-Douglas debate, a one-on-one format that focuses on con icting societal and philosophical issues.

Rodrigo Paramo, who teaches and coaches Middle and Upper School debate, says he is proud of Watt’s achievements.

“Having a concrete competitive goal really helped him because he knew very clearly that there was a benchmark that he needed to hit and it meant that he had to do a lot to get there,” Paramo said. “He is the only kid on the team who has made it to elimination rounds of every tournament he attended this year.”

Paramo says that Watt has also been very diligent in managing his other extracurricular commitments with debate.

When Watt was playing football in the fall, he was unable to participate in any debate tournaments or practices until November. However, Watt would meet with Paramo during his free periods to prepare.

“[Watt] and I worked out a system where he’d commit his o block to debate and he’d come in and I’d have an assignment or reading for him or we would watch a debate, something that would allow him to prepare for the season while he was playing football,” Paramo said.

A er football season ended, Watt participated in seven consecutive tournaments.

Junior Adam Kesselman, who also does Lincoln-Douglas debate, says Watt has signi cantly improved over the years.

“Jaden has gotten a lot better in telling the judge how to evaluate his arguments and speci cally what they should vote on,” Kesselman said. “And then this year, he went super in-depth on the last topic, which was about environmental protections in China.”

Watt has also served as a helpful guide and resource for younger debaters, serving as a coach and mentor before tournaments, Kesselman said.

Watt primarily played wide receiver and defensive back and was elected a captain of the football team for his senior season. e bonds he created with his teammates through football were stronger than any other activity.

is explosiveness has enabled Watt to make his mark on the Greenhill track team as well.

Watt quali ed for the state competition a er winning three of 10 tournaments he

Among his many attributes is his wide range of interests and knowledge. During a recent tournament, Paramo recalls an instance when he bonded with Watt over a conversation about rapper Playboi Carti and his music. “ at was one of the coolest moments at a tournament, just to hear a kid talk about a totally unrelated debate interest, and he had a bunch of other younger teammates looking at him,” said Paramo. “You can see that he is 100% passionate about whatever it is, be it football, track, debate, music, he will give

“I’m close with the people in football because we spend the entire summer together, we go on retreats together, we spend a lot of time together and it really builds that bond,” he said.

You can see that he is 100% passionate about whatever it is, be it football, track, debate, music, he will give 100%.”

Senior Josh Titens, also a football captain last fall, says Watt’s leadership helped alleviate pressure and made the team run smoothly.

“He took a lot of responsibility o my shoulders in terms of handling his position group and trying to handle how to run the team,” Titens said. “Him doing all he did helped me and everyone else.”

Despite frustrations with losses during a winless season, Watt says that “the thing that kept me going back to football was the group of people.”

In addition to his commitment to Greenhill and its teams, Watt also mentors his younger brothers outside of school practices.

“A lot of the time we are not together, it is hard sometimes because we have con icting schedules, but I try to give them advice and counsel,” said Watt. “I think the biggest thing that I give them is that if they think about doing something, do it, because they are only in high school once.”

Stacey Johnson, who serves as the defensive coordinator of the football team and head coach of the track and eld team, says Watt is a “talented athlete with speed and explosiveness.”

Since Watt joined track in his sophomore year, he has achieved a variety of competitive successes, including being a member of the team that broke the school record in the 4x100-meter relay last year. e other members of the record-breaking team were senior Aaron Johnson, Jason Estrada ’22 and Brodrick Houston ’22. “ e most memorable moment in my Greenhill career was breaking the 4x100 record,” Watt said. “With a ton of people from school at the meet, it was really fun to see.”

Stacey Johnson says that some of Watt’s best qualities are his work ethic and natural talent.

“He has a lot of natural ability, and he has done a lot of hard work over the years to become an even better athlete and develop his talents,” the track and eld coach said.

During the rst track meet of the season, Watt competed and placed well in several events. His 4x400-meter relay team of Aaron Johnson, junior Alex Wetzler, and junior Jack Bovard placed second with a time of 3:38.61. He also placed second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.32 seconds, and second in the 4x100 relay with a time of 43.67 seconds.

He took a lot of responsibility off my shoulders in terms of handling his position group and trying to handle how to run the team.”

Watt recently ran a 10.84-second 100-meter dash, his personal record. rough debate and athletics, Watt has been able to build a variety of connections with students and faculty across campus.

Watt encourages other students to take a risk and try a variety of activities like he did to get the most out of their years at Greenhill.

“If I had to give a senior speech, the one thing I would tell the entirety of Greenhill is if you have an urge, if you think maybe I might like this, pursue it,” Watt said. “At least try it because there will be a time where you simply can’t do it anymore.”