Canfield speech and debate coach earns national recognition

CANFIELD — You might not expect a math teacher to be coaching the high-school speech and debate team, but that hasn’t stopped Jeremy Hamilton at Canfield High School from having that role.

Hamilton will receive the second diamond in his National Speech and Debate Association’s Diamond Coach Award at a ceremony June 22.

Hamilton didn’t plan on coaching speech and debate; he never participated in high school.

But when he was hired at Canfield in fall 2005, the same year he graduated from Youngstown State University, the teacher he replaced was an assistant coach on the speech and debate team. Hamilton took over for his predecessor and fell in love with it. In the 2006-07 school year, he was the head coach.

The team has experienced a lot of success since Hamilton took the reins, including winning the school’s first state championship in 2013.

For the complete story, read Tuesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com