Canfield speech and debate coach earns national recognition

Teacher to receive second diamond from National Speech and Debate Association

By Justin Wier

jwier@vindy.com

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.

“That was one of the best moments I can remember of my career,” Hamilton said. “The trophy was nice, but it was that team winning it and all the students that made it happen.”

He’s also coached individual state champions and hosted state tournaments at Canfield twice, in 2013 and 2015. The team has been ranked in the Top 10 in Ohio for seven of the last eight years. The team is in its sixth consecutive year among the top competitive teams in the nation, as determined by the NSDA.

Speech and debate encompasses many disciplines from performing plays to debating current events. Hamilton said he coaches everything, but as a math teacher he’s drawn to analytic categories that involve researching and presenting logical evidence.

“I love teaching math,” he said. “But the day wouldn’t be what it is without coaching speech and debate as well.”

Hamilton said he loves seeing students research, build skills and develop camaraderie.

“It becomes infectious, seeing students really want to devote their time to something so thoroughly,” he said.

Students who participate in speech and debate have confidence Hamilton said makes them more comfortable in job interviews and puts them ahead of the game when they take a high-school public-speaking class. Several of his former students have gone on to Ivy League schools.

Not many coaches earn their second diamond, Hamilton said. A coach can earn the first diamond after five years of coaching and the second diamond after another five years. He said the award showcases the strength of Canfield’s program and reflects the hundreds of students he’s worked with over the years.

“It’s a nice honor,” he said. “But it’s really the ability to work with the kids that means the most in the long run.”