Meet Our Teachers
Speech and Debate Coach
New Mexico
Jason Gates spends much of his days talking to a computer as a software engineer. He then volunteers a good bit of his free time teaching kids like you how to communicate more effectively with other humans by coaching academic speech and debate.
Jason competed in a variety of speech and debate events back in high school, then judged on and off for a few years after that. A number of years ago, he got back into judging, and then jumped into coaching for a local public school. He won the NSDA District New Coach of the Year Award for New Mexico, and sent a number of students to the National Tournament.
When the world shut down, he decided that’d be an ideal time to start coaching homeschoolers, and therefore founded the New Mexico Forensics Club. The focus of the club is not just teaching persuasive rhetoric, but making sure students know how to research, reason, and think before they open their mouths.
Jason is passionate about teaching both parents and students alike the skills necessary for fostering open and honest dialogue in pursuit of truth. Such skills are sorely needed in the world today, so he’s thrilled that you’re seeking to develop them, and prays that you’ll put them to good use in your daily interactions.
Though he’s lived in the Middle East and Europe, and has visited two dozen countries, Jason loves to call Albuquerque, NM, home, where he and his wife are raising their five kiddos, one dog, two rabbits, and 12 chickens (so far; rumor has it a turtle is on the way).
