With spring right around the corner, here’s something from the Book of Splond archives.

SpeakFirst believes that success is not debatable.

SpeakFirst, which is under the umbrella of Impact America, uses academic debate to challenge Birmingham’s high school and middle school students to guide them on a path toward excellence in college and beyond.

“Any student in Birmingham City Schools is eligible,” said Rachel Puckett, program manager for SpeakFirst. “There are some exceptions, but the student typically has some tie to Birmingham.”

The SpeakFirst Middle School Debate League, which is in its fourth year, caters to students at L.M. Smith Middle School, Phillips Academy, Putnam Middle School, Hayes K–8 School, Huffman Middle School, W.J. Christian K–8 School, and Wilkerson Middle School. Middle schoolers practice two times a week, and they participate in tournaments hosted by SpeakFirst and debate among the seven schools in Birmingham.

The high school division, which is in its 13th year, is more time intensive, but it has the added caveat of providing full four-year scholarships to the University of Alabama at Birmingham or the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa to students who complete the SpeakFirst program. Students can also use the scholarship money to study abroad, and they do not have to participate in debate in college. (To date, alumni have received about $4.6 million in college scholarships.) Students at Carver, Huffman, Jackson-Olin, Parker, Ramsay, Wenonah, and Woodlawn high schools are eligible to participate. High schoolers practice three times a week for three hours a day, and they do not have to try out each year—once they are accepted into the program, they are in.

Students do not have to pay to participate in either program, although they are responsible for covering their meals when the leagues go on trips. For high schoolers, four of their eight tournaments are out of town to places like Montgomery and Tuscaloosa, and older students also attend a tournament in New Orleans.

“Our ideal student is very curious and continuously asks questions,” Puckett said. “They love to read and write. We look for students who have maintained a good academic record through middle school. We ask a lot of our students. We want them to enjoy the opportunity and be challenged and fulfilled by it.”

For most alumna of the program, it is a fulfilling and rewarding experience.

“Because of SpeakFirst, I am currently a student at the University of Alabama majoring in criminal justice with a minor in psychology, and my first work-study job on campus was with Impact Alabama,” said SpeakFirst alumna Chelsea Caldwell, a 2015 graduate of Ramsay. “So Speak First has been very instrumental in helping me navigate through my first year of college.

“The best thing about my experience at SpeakFirst was the speech and writing skills that it equipped me with. As a result of constantly writing cases on various topics, writing college essays is no problem. SpeakFirst also taught me how to speak more eloquently in public without overuse of words that are often used to just fill space or give time to gather one’s thoughts, such as like, um, and basically.”

Puckett agrees that SpeakFirst equips students for future success.

“Debate is the best extracurricular you can participate in because it forces you to take the skills you’ve learned in the classroom and use them,” she said.

Tryouts for SpeakFirst are held each spring. To be added to the group’s mailing list to receive an application when they become available, email speakfirst@impactamerica.com.