As I sit in my Night Class on Ethics with pastor Crawford a sweet elderly woman from Mississippi who has a mean free throw shot, I am looking out the window feeling BLESSED! For the past month I have had the honor to compete and grow with The Great Debaters of Wiley College through the activity of Speech and Debate. For many of you who have no idea about Wiley College the freed slave institution founded on 1873 in Marshall, Texas. The schools Debate team was in a featured film produced by Oprah Winfrey during 2007 titled THE GREAT DEBATERS with several award winning actors staring in the films such as Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Nate Parker, Jurnee Smollett, etc. The film was based on a true story about the undefeated team during 1935-1947 which was led by Melvin B. Tolson. However, the movie was not accurate as far as beating Harvard. Truthfully, the great debaters competed against USC and lost the debate. Currently in the 2013-2014 season the Great Debaters of Wiley College have made HISTORY!!! YES WORLD! #THEGREATDEBATERS have succeeded this year in multiple ways! October: Wiley College Defeats USC in Debate! March: Wiley College win Junior Varsity College National Tournament in Kansas with a team of nothing but Freshmen and sophomores. - Wiley College wins Pi Kappa Delta National Tournament (Tournament year) in Indiana and is the first HBCU to win not only one but two National championships overall April: Wiley college receives three out round breaks at AFA previous record was one - Wiley college defeats Yale These are just a few of the accomplishments and checkpoints of greatness for a program that has a history of not having the opportunity to compete with the best and is a Historically Black College University. I am so THANKFUL THAT GOD HAS BROUGHT ME HERE TO MARSHALL TEXAS TO LEARN, GROW, LOVE, SMILE, SHINE, and BUILD! Thank you to the speech and debate community for being so accepting and motivating to our small team on the rise of greatness not only for HBCU but in existence. We have much to learn and grow, however this is a post of appreciation. I personally remember how i viewed life before i came back to school for the 3rd time and the growth as a being, spirit and leader under God has been so great all I can say is thank you for inspiring me to execute glorious deeds and humbling me to work harder on accomplishing the impossible because ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!! This is the end of my sophomore year and God has blessed me with a total of 13 National championships individually and to be a part of 2 Team national championships. To anyone who is reading this post and does not think they can make it. YOU CAN!! I WAS JUST IN TENNESSEE LOST IN LIFE AND PROGRESS IS HAPPENING IN THE GLORY OF GODS NAME!! Now, I am about to GO ON MY FIRST INDEPENDENT MUSIC, POETRY, and Motivational speaking tour THIS SUMMER! Yes there are lows in life but that is all preparation for the HIGHS IN LIFE THAT ARE TO COME!! SO FACEBOOK FAMILY THIS IS ALL TO SAY BE ENCOURAGED! BE INSPIRING! DO NOT QUIT! and SMILE BECAUSE I LOVE YOU! I BELIEVE IN YOU! YOU ARE CAPABLE! GOD LOVES YOU! NOW SHARE THE GREAT ENERGY AND HAVE AN AWESOME SUMMER!! MUAH!!! - Sincerely, Austin Dean Ashford
Posted on: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 00:56:27 +0000