Newark Teacher named 2010 New Jersey Debate Coach of the Year

By Brent Farrand

March 8, 2010On Saturday March 6, Mr. Jonathan Alston was honored as 2010 Coach of the Year by over 600 contestants, coaches and judges gathered at Ridge High School in Basking Ridge, New Jersey for the state final tournament of the New Jersey Forensic League (NJFL). Mr. Alston will also be honored with a Governor’s Award at the May celebration of excellence in arts education hosted by the NJ State Department of Education.

Mr. Alston has taught English and coached the Science Park Lincoln Douglas debate team for 16 years. As a student at Newark Science HS, Mr. Alston was NJ State Champion in Lincoln Douglas debate in both his junior and senior years. Mr. Alston has led Science’s Lincoln Douglas team to national prominence including coaching Science debater, Nadir Joshua, who holds the national record for highest number of qualifications to the National Tournament Champions. Alston is a highly respected instructor of debate at the summer institutes held by Stanford University and the University of North Texas and was inducted two years ago into the Key Coach Society of The Barkley Forum at Emory University, a national honor society of debate and speech coaches.

In the tribute to Mr. Alston, Brent Farrand (2007 Coach of the Year) characterized Alston as a “happy warrior” for students. Farrand noted, “Mr. Alston graduated from Yale University with honors. The network and respect he built at Yale was so strong that he could have been anything he wanted to be, anywhere in the world he wanted to go. He chose to be a teacher in Newark. I hope many of the students gathered here today, representing the best and brightest of New Jersey, chose to follow this gentleman’s footsteps and chose to be a teacher.”