COVER STORY
GOLDEN GAVELS Speech and Debate for All Ages How a demonstration debate turned into a national movement, and why the speech and debate community should care — by Alan Coverstone —
T
he Wake Forest debaters thought they were going to perform. It was October 2023. Wake Forest University had just won the “Triple Crown” of college debate, and local news coverage reached an unexpected audience: residents at Salemtowne Retirement Community in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Residents read the headlines and asked their activities director a simple question: “Can the Wake Forest students come show us what they do?” So Wake Forest Director of Debate Dr. Jarrod Atchison and Dr. Allan Louden, the program builder behind Wake Forest’s rise to national prominence, gathered a few national
Dr. Jarrod Atchinson
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Dr. Allan Louden
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championship debaters and drove over together.
Six Weeks Later
They expected to perform a public debate, and they did. In the process, though, they planted the seeds of something much bigger.
Salemtowne invited them back—not for another show, but to help start a debate society. Atchison and Louden kept it simple. They divided the room in half. They chose a resolution. They set a deadline: Let’s debate in six weeks. The first topic was thoughtful and inviting: Does more education make you happier? Residents researched. They met in small groups. With support from Wake Forest debaters, they drafted speeches and critiqued each other’s work. They debated. They did it again. And again. After six or seven internal rounds, someone asked the question that changed everything: “Who else can we debate?” That question turned an activity into a movement.
“There’s No Reason You Can’t Do This” The residents chose the topic. While the students prepared, Atchison explained how modern debate works. Louden shared stories from decades of coaching. Then the students debated. The room was quiet, focused, curious. When the round ended, Atchison said what felt like an encouraging throwaway line: “If you enjoyed this, there’s no reason you can’t do a debate yourselves.” The residents took it seriously.
Accomplished People, Brave Enough to Try It’s easy to underestimate older adults. Louden is quick to correct that instinct. “These are accomplished folks, people who had real major careers,” he says. The first Salemtowne teams included a NASA mathematician, a CEO, two physicians, and a former high school principal. When they reached out to engage a second retirement community in Greensboro, the profile was similar: former deans, administrators, and senior leaders.
These were not novices discovering how the world works. They were professionals rediscovering how to argue about it. Wake Forest students initially thought they would be teaching basic structure: how to build a case, how