By Deemah Pulak
Balloons, confetti and music flooded the room as new Speech and Debate coach Laura Coker walked into her room awe-struck. For receiving her Master’s degree, Coker’s third period class planned out a faux graduation party for her because she would miss walking across the stage that day because of an overlap with a debate tournament.
“I was shocked because my students had never done something so sweet for me,” Coker said. “It meant a lot to me and it made me feel like I was a good role model showing my students the importance of furthering their education.”
Coker received her Master’s Degree from UNT in Educational Leadership Administration in hopes of teaching college in the future.
“She knows how to push us out of our comfort zone, but not over the line,” freshman Zaiba Fatima said. “She always believes in not only my capabilities but other students’ also, even when I think I can’t ever do it. “
Before receiving her Masters, Coker graduated from Hardin Simmons University with a degree in secondary education, a major in English and a minor in Speech Communication.
“My major was originally theater,” Coker said. “I actually went to school on a theater scholarship but once I got into education, I realized that teaching more of a core subject would be more employable, so I ended up deciding to do theater in my spare time and went ahead and majored in English.”
This is Coker’s 12th year teaching Speech and Debate and her first year in Richardson.
“I live very close to RHS, but I also followed Mr. Bruner here because I used to work for him at Forest Meadow,” Coker said. “He’s an incredible principal and employer, so I decided to follow him over here because there was a debate spot.”
Students said the class has helped them with public speaking skills.
“At first I didn’t really think this class was that important, but I soon realized that there’s a lot of value in this debate class,” freshman Rheal Zackaria said. “I learned tons of lessons, and I can now confidently say that I’m not afraid to stand up in front of a group of people and speak, unlike before.”
In addition to Forest Meadow, Coker also taught at a private school.
“I love RHS, and I love who I work with,” Coker said. “I have such a diverse group of students, which I love, and my debate students are very self-motivated and dedicated which makes me very proud to be here.”
At Richardson, Coker teaches mostly debate classes and a few English classes.
“I felt great the first day of school,” Coker said. “I was a little nervous and apprehensive because I didn’t know anybody, and I’ve never taught majority of all debate before.”
Coker, who has performed on stage since she was 5-years-old, said that her theater background informs her teaching.
“I have always loved public speaking, and my friends always thought I was crazy because I loved giving speeches in school,” Coker said. “I love making audiences happy, and I love instilling confidence in my students. It makes me so proud when I see a student who has grown in their confidence level.”
The debaters have been going to practice tournaments almost every month since school started.
“She works very hard with each and every one of us to make sure we’re prepared for competition,” freshman Emily Day said. “She genuinely wants us to do well and always supports us in all that we do.”
Day said she enjoys the class and hopes to continue debating in the future.
“She never doubts any of us,” Day said. “She’s always in a good mood, which always lightens up the class.”
The district debate tournament takes place at the end of February. Coker believes her students will outdo the other teams.
“I think we’re going to do excellent at district,” Coker said. “I think I’ve picked the best students in each category and I think we’ll definitely place in the top spots at district.”
Freshman Gabriel Oprysk said that the class has helped him express exactly what he loves to do – debate.
“She’s an incredibly nice person, and you can tell she really cares about the subject,” Oprysk said. “I think she pushes our confidence level up all the time.”
For aspiring students, Coker’s advice is to think of debate as a commitment rather than an extracurricular activity.
“Understand that when you join debate, you’re going to have to put in a lot of outside of school time,” Coker said. “You’re going to have to put in the work and the research, but it will pay off because you will become a better debater.”