UH FORENSICS SOCIETY DOES WELL WHILE DOING
GOOD
Community Service, Competitive Spirit Go Hand in Hand
HOUSTON, Dec. 20, 2006 – A former Lanier Middle School football
star has found his shining moment far beyond the playing field.
After suffering a stroke that ended his football-playing days, Chris
Hunter, now an interdisciplinary studies freshman in the College
of Education at the University of Houston, was inspired by a different
kind of coach. It was Michael L. Fain, director of UH’s Forensics
Society (UHFS), who still saw plenty of success in Hunter’s
future – just not on the gridiron.
“Dr. Fain told me, ‘There has to be something else you
were meant to do, and football is not it,’” said Hunter,
recalling how Fain encouraged him to channel his competitive drive
into speech and debate.
Fain’s confidence in Hunter continues to pay off. Recently,
at the 41st Annual Colorado College National Invitational Tournament,
UHFS members scored a second-place finish in Sweepstakes in Individual
Events and fourth place overall. Hunter led the way, winning first
place in four out of 11 events – Dramatic Interpretation,
Prose Interpretation, Poetry Interpretation and Program of Oral
Interpretation. No other contestant won more than one first-place
award at the tournament, which hosted more than 400 competitors
from more than 50 universities and colleges.
UH was also represented in final rounds by junior Sunita Dharani,
who placed third in Prose Interpretation and freshmen Whitney Mickel,
who was a finalist in Prose Interpretation, and Myi Watson, who
was a Program of Oral Interpretation finalist.
Although such accomplishments are, in Fain’s words, “a
coach’s dream,” they take a back seat to UHFS’s
community service mission. While UHFS members excel by the standards
most collegiate speech-and-debate teams use to measure success –
how many trophies they bring home from tournaments – for Fain’s
students, winning is about how many children they reach through
their volunteer work at inner-city schools, orphanages and homeless
shelters.
UHFS members reach out to the community in part by hosting and judging
speech and debate tournaments for local middle schools and high
schools, participating in community service projects at Depelchin
Children’s Center and Star of Hope Mission, and coaching students
at schools with limited faculty and financial resources, Fain said.
Being on the receiving end of that kind of outreach, Hunter says,
set him on the path to success at UH.
“Forensics really has saved my life,” Hunter said. “It
changed my perspective on everything.”
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research
and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers
and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate,
civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university
in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and
service with more than 35,000 students.
For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.
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