Fall Regional for Team Razgrad

Five years ago, Bulgarian Fulbright ETA's began a national speech and debate tournament--Bulgarian English Speech and Debate Tournament (BEST)--that has quickly grown in scope and influence. Much more than a simple Forensics competition, BEST has become a creative outlet for students in the performing arts with events such as prose and poetry recitations, script performance, and original oratory. Without a doubt, BEST has become a safe space for students throughout Bulgaria to express themselves through various artistic media, allowing them to show others the women and men they want to become. At my orientation for the ETA program this past September, I had the opportunity to watch a recent high school graduate deliver an oratory she had written and performed last year at the BEST National Tournament. Immediately, I was taken--ripped from the boring lecture hall of some Sofian hotel and drawn into the mind and thoughts of a young woman wrestling with the college application process and its psychological implications. It was one of the most impressive and inspiring performances I have seen in my life. She wrote with verve and delivered her writing with a strength of character of which I am envious.

I am now lucky enough to coach my own BEST team in my host town, Razgrad. In order to afford my students the chance at competing in both of the regional tournaments this year--one is this December and the other is in March--I am raising money for registration, lodging, and transportation fees. Please consider helping. Every student should have the opportunity to travel Bulgaria and compete in these tournaments, meeting fellow Bulgarian creatives from across the country who also yearn for the chance to express their desires, loves, heartbreaks, and worries with like-minded students.