Rocky Mountain Stoa
Proudly Announces the
Annual Sandra Bateman
Community Service Award
Purpose
Sandra Bateman, the founder of sWord Speech & Debate, had a vision for all Stoa students. Her vision was that they would take their speech and debate training skills far beyond the Stoa boundaries and out into their communities to serve, bless, and communicate for God’s glory. This was the motivation which inspired her to create the Community Service Award and now, in her memory, we continue the tradition of giving out this very special award each year at Centennial State Tournament.
Eligible Activities
Applicants may list activities such as volunteer work for political campaigns, Sunday school, museums, libraries, legislatures, non-profit organizations, etc. Not eligible are activities in support of speech/debate clubs, tournaments in which you were a competitor, nor activities for which you received compensation.
This award is not based on the amount of hours volunteered. It is more about the creativity and the heart behind the service.
Application Instructions
The application will prompt you to provide a short descriptive paragraph for each activity. You may list more than one activity in your submission as long as you provide a separate description and accounting of hours for each activity. Remember, your writing should communicate as well as your speaking.
For our 2024 application,all activities/hours had to have been accumulated between February 1, 2023 and February 1, 2024.
Award Presentation
This award is presented at the awards ceremony at Centennial State Tournament.
Judging
Judges evaluate entries on the service activity’s creativity and its impact on the community. Judges are given the age and gender of each applicant, but not their names. Judges’ rankings are then totaled together to determine the winners. Decisions are final.
Questions
Email swordspeech@gmail.com with questions.