COMMUNITY
INSIGHT How Speech and Debate Helped Me Win the Prestigious Rhodes Scholarship by Serene Singh
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Coaches, we encourage you to share this article with students applying for rigorous scholarships!
ROSTRUM | FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021
eople ask me all the time—how did you do it? As you might guess, there is no prescriptive answer or code that can be cracked. However, I DO know that the most important traits that factored in my becoming a Rhodes Scholar stemmed directly from speech and debate. I started in the activity as a sixth grader. At middle school tournaments, people knew me for two things—one, wearing a suit four times too big for my small self; and two, being that Indian girl who won tournaments. The joke’s on anyone who had a problem with my XL suit—I went on to compete in the National Junior Forensic League my final year of middle school in that infamous suit and win the Original Oratory national championship. But perhaps that was one of the first lessons
I learned—to be 100% you. Experts know their stuff, no doubt. But authenticity has only one expert, and that is you. Speech and debate taught me that, just as it is important to share original messages you find truthful and worthy with an audience, it is equally important to share authentic messages with yourself. The times I have succeeded in life, I constantly have had to defy what someone else told me I should do, should wear, should say, and instead followed my own gut. You may have heard about the unique process of the Rhodes Scholarship. Following an intense application, finalists for the scholarship in every country attend a finalist dinner followed by a judged cocktail party, and finally, a panel interview. The process usually lasts an entire weekend. I still remember friends and mentors