Columbus High teacher who built ‘dominating’ debate team named Coach of the Year

Three years ago, as Lyndsey Hinckley prepared for her fourth year teaching English at Columbus High School, an assistant principal called her with the news that would change her career.

The faculty member who was teaching the debate class and coaching the debate team retired – and Hinckley would be the successor.

“We think you’re a good fit for it,” Hinckley recalled being told. Her response: “I will do it if that’s what I need to do. I don’t have any experience, but I’m willing to learn.”

Hinckley has learned so well and has helped her students learn so well, the Georgia Forensics Coaches Association named her the 2017 Georgia Debate Coach of the Year.

In three seasons under Hinckley’s leadership, the Columbus High debate team has:

▪ Increased participation from four to 40 students.

▪ Created and hosted an invitational debate tournament for 15-plus schools the past two years.

▪ Won six category state championships.

▪ Became the first team in Georgia to win all three state championships in public forum (novice, junior varsity and varsity) during the same year, 2016.

▪ Qualified more than 20 students to compete in national championships.

Dedicated

Hinckley called her selection an honor but emphasized, “I get to work with the most incredible kids, and being able to see their success is its own reward.”

Columbus High seniors Morgan Pace and Sam Georgecink in the public forum category and sophomore Kiko Tumpalan in the original oratory category qualified for this weekend’s Tournament of Champions at the University of Kentucky. Only three schools from Georgia ever have qualified public forum teams for the tournament, and this is the second straight year for Columbus High.

Hinckley is “one of the most dedicated people I’ve ever met,” Morgan said.

Whether hosting their own tournament or traveling to others throughout Georgia and out of state, Hinckley has bonded with her students.

“To spend your whole weekend with high school students is a lot to ask of an adult,” Sam said.

That’s because they are apt to debate even her – although it’s her fault for teaching them to excel.

“High-schoolers are always crazy and out there,” Sam acknowledged, “so we’re very appreciative of her putting up with us.”

Inclusive

The students also appreciate Hinckley’s inclusive teaching style.

“She tries to get the entire room in on the discussion,” Sam said.

Columbus High junior Mary Chen added, “She makes real-life connections to things we talk about.”

For example, Mary was confused about some terms in the debate lingo, but Hinckley made them clear by alluding to even a Disney princess.

“She breaks it down a lot,” Mary said.

Last year, Mary recalled she and her partner, Gwyn Rush, struggled to win more than half of their rounds.

“But Ms. Hinckley never gave up on us,” Mary said. “She always allowed us to go to these tournaments and have the hope and the faith in us to do well. So this year, we’ve seen slightly more success.”

Slightly? They qualified for a national tournament in June.

Gwyn, a junior, likes the empowering trust Hinckley invests in her students.

“At a lot of other schools, the coach is just basically handing them everything,” Gwyn said. “There is a lot of pressure to do so well, so they hire other people (assistant coaches) to do a lot of the work.”

But the students on Columbus High’s debate team, Gwyn said, do their own preparation, “so that lets us understand the information better, and it lets us really know what we’re doing more.”

Meaningful

The Columbus High debate team practices nearly every day after school and competes on many weekends. They also prepare on their own at night. Morgan estimates they sometimes spend 20 hours per week on debate. They often must quit other activities to fit debate time into their schedules, she said, but the benefits outweigh the sacrifices.

“You learn a lot in terms of public speaking and understanding politics and the world around you,” Morgan said. “We also have a strong sense of community on our team, and that’s something Ms. Hinckley has really helped to foster.”

Hinckley encourages the varsity members to interact with the younger students, Morgan said, and discourages cliques from starting.

Last year, during a tournament in North Carolina, Morgan recalled, “We lost a lot more rounds than we were expecting to. We were really bummed out about it until Ms. Hinckley sat down with us and told us that it was OK and we had more opportunities throughout the year. … That really helped us bounce back for the next weekend, when we had another national tournament, and we did do better.”

Hinckley noted with a smile, “Emotions are a lot higher in high school debate than you would expect.”

Morgan added, “Especially with people in the high school age, it’s really easy to just give up when you get down on yourself, but Ms. Hinckley is very motivating, which helps us stick with it and grow.”

Cheesecake, the team has learned, also helps. In fact, eating is a major priority. When practice runs late, they are keenly grateful for Chick-fil-A being only a mile from school.

“We’re all foodies,” Sam said.

And, the students are well aware, Hinckley needs a steady supply of Diet Coke.

“One year,” Hinckley recalled with a laugh, “I gave it up for Lent. That was right around the time of the state championship, and that was not a pleasant experience for anybody.”

Honest

Hinckley attended Lee County schools through ninth grade before graduating from South Forsyth High School in 2004. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Huntingdon College in 2007 and a master’s degree in secondary education language arts from Columbus State University in 2011. She has taught English, humanities and debate courses at Columbus High since then.

Debate, however, “wasn’t something that I thought I would ever want to do or be good at,” Hinckley said.

Until she surprised herself after that fateful phone call three years ago.

“You jump in and sink or swim,” Hinckley said.

She created a crash course on debate by taking advantage of online resources through the National Speech and Debate Association. Seasoned debaters at Columbus High also tutored her — and she used her ignorance as a strength.

Hinckley recalled, “I think it helped that I was honest with them from the beginning and said, ‘We’re going to learn this together and figure it out as we go along.’”

Asked why she didn’t fake it until she made it, Hinckley replied, “I just think that, if I expect integrity from my students, I have to model that for them first. I think it gave me more credibility not to go in and pretend like I knew everything but to admit that I’m still learning it with them. It also creates a climate where it’s OK for them to fail or to not do as well to begin with, because I’m going to mess up too.”

Such failures have been few.

“Coaches from more established programs were very helpful in helping us build our program,” Hinckley said.

At her second tournament, she volunteered to be in the varsity judging pool. In her second year, Columbus High won its first state championship. And last year, she became membership coordinator for the Georgia Forensics Coaches Association, joined the national association’s district committee and directed both state tournaments.

“I fell in love with it way more than I thought I was going to,” Hinckley said.

Why?

“The kids,” Hinckley said, “and seeing how much they enjoy it and how much they get from it. There’s the public speaking aspect, but they also get critical thinking skills, research skills. They become very informed citizens.”

A joke on the team, Hinckley said, is that “if you weren’t politically aware before you join debate, you’re going to be. Whichever side of the spectrum you fall on, that’s very important for young people.”

Despite her soft heart, Hinckley is a hard competitor.

“I like winning,” she admitted. “But even if the kids weren’t winning, I would still love it for the same reasons I’m a teacher: I want to help students grow and be productive young adults.”

Engaging

Georgia Forensics Coaches Association selection committee chairman Jeffrey Miller, the debate coach at the Marist School in Atlanta and the 2012 GFCA Debate Coach of the Year, explained why Hinckley was chosen among five nominees.

“Lyndsey was selected based on not only her teams’ success in the past three years but also her leadership within our community,” Miller said in an email. “At Columbus, she has been able to build one of the most dominating public forum debate teams in the state.”

Miller said Hinckley’s volunteer role as state tournament director “requires approximately 100 hours of additional work on top of coaching and teaching to get ready and prepare the entire state for the state championship. Lyndsey was able to not only run a great state tournament but also paid attention to the small details to ensure everyone had a great weekend.”

In an emailed interview, Columbus High principal Marvin Crumbs said Hinckley “has an engaging but laid-back style of teaching that creates a warm atmosphere for learning. Her students actively discuss topics and create multiple ways to express what they learn in her classroom.”

All of which makes Crumbs feel fortunate to have her on staff.

“Ms. Hinckley has brought energy and a love for English education to our school,” Crumbs said. “Her students love going to her class, where they actively learn and share with each other. Her debate team members appreciate the hard work and effort she puts into making them better.”

This story was originally published April 26, 2017 at 1:27 PM with the headline "Columbus High teacher who built ‘dominating’ debate team named Coach of the Year."