Jay Bourne

Jay Bourne the current president of the National College Forensics Association, a former president for Southern State Communications Association, previous governor on well-known Pi Kappa Delta, and beloved coach for University of the Cumberlands Forensics team tells of his success and obstacles that are apart of his career story.

Q: When and why did you seek a masters degree in communications; specifically Forensics?  

A: Honestly, I didn't have any future plans and I was offered a graduate assistantship to help coach a speech team, which I was good at. I said, “more schooling, sounds good.” I probably wouldn't have gone on to do that at University of the Cumberlands, if I wasn't offered the assistantship. Lack of a definite career plan led me there.

Q: What opportunities did your masters’ degree make available to you?

A:   Well there are a lot of people who have master degrees. There aren't many who have a background in coaching a debate team. So that was my leg up, in terms of applying for jobs, that we call comprehensive programs. A program could do just debate or just individual events or both. So I had experience in coaching and participating in debate which helped me excel.

Q: What is your most proud moment of your career?

A: I’m proud to say this past year, as a debate team, has been our best yet.

Q: What part of your career do you enjoy the most?

A: What I'm most proud of, and it's not a single time, but when past competitions have success come their way and they contribute at least some of their success to what they learned on the speech team. For example, students who got full rides to law school, based partly, not solely, but partly off the debate team, who have been allowed to compete in mock trail. A lot of the time I'll get people that put the debate team on their resume and that helps them get jobs, because it's proof you can communicate well. I like that many of our students have gone in various fields, from ministry to bio-chemistry that their communication skills have helped them out.

Q: What is the definition of Forensics?

A:   The definition of forensics is to improve persuasive skills and how to relate to your audience. Our goal is to get you to communicate and think effectively.

Q: What is the difference between forensics and common communications?

A:   The goal is to improve communication skills no mater where they come from across the college. In other types of communication, or interpersonal communication, would be looking at developing your skills in a broad area to prepare you for a job/ career. The Forensics team angle is concerned with developing your persuasive skills and how to relate to your audience really well.The Forensic team isn't communication major dependent, where they others would be. Both are valuable.

Q: What is the most difficult requirement with your career?

A:   The chemistry of the team is undefinable. Some years it's good and some years it isn't, and there is only so much you can do as a coach. It's a hard thing to manipulate and affect positively. Just like teaching a class; you can teach the class the same way at the same time but the outcome is effected by the makeup of the student’s chemistry, which could make it fun and less fun.

Q: For the 12 years, you have been the Debate Coach at UC in that time how many states have you and your students competed in?

A:   We have covered a lot of territory. We have a map pinned to a peg board across from my office with a pin in every state we have competed in. I have been to about every state with an exception of six and the obvious Hawaii and Alaska. As a team we have covered a pretty good portion of the south and the west. There is a gap in the north by the Dakotas and Canada. It's been quite awhile since we have been to the north east. I would say we have been from Kentucky down, including Florida and on over to New Mexico.

Q: What were some of your major accomplishments awarded?

A: I've been President of Kentucky forensic association before, and I’ve also been chair of SSCA, or Southern State Communication Association, for forensics. Ive been re-elected for President of the National College Forensic Association This year for another two year term, which is year 5 and 6. After this term I will call it quits. There is no term limit but I am putting one on it. After experience, you get put in leadership positions opportunities. We have one called Pi Kappa Delta. They divide up the country into regions and they have governors for those regions. I have been the governor for the south east region before. Those are the different areas I've helped out and done. These positions are given to those you have been around for awhile and I've enjoyed being apart of it.

Q: What is the Quality award?

A:   At the end of the tournament the ballot collectors divide the points each debater has earn by the slots or events in which they were entered. The higher the score the higher the average for each member on the team.

Q: How come the Quality award is your team’s goal every year at nationals?

A:   For us that's a good indicator on how we are doing compared to other teams. We know we aren't the largest team around, for multiple reasons. One reason being we don't give out scholarships. But there are a lot of teams that do pay, and it's easier to get participation when you pay people, right? We tend to do well with what we have, because I like to be a good steward of what we are given. We tend to do well at competitions that offer the quality award, but it doesn't mean we don't bring home the sweepstakes award because we've done that too. It's a way to look at the tournament and figure out how we compare to the other teams. For example in the tournament at University of West Florida we were probably 3^rd or 4^th on quality.

Q: How motivating was it to win the Professional level Debate tournament in Knoxville, Tennessee?

A: I don't know if it was motivating. I thought it was humorous actually. The coach at Union, Web Drake, actually yelled out, “still got it,” when I received the award. That was good; it's nice to know I can still debate after coaching for so long. It made me realize how difficult it can be to do what I want the students to do. I got to see first-hand that is not as easy as it sometimes looks. It’s refreshing to debate at the professional level, I do that once every five years.

Q: What were some of the recent accomplishments at 2016 nationals?

A:   In a ranking from top to bottom I think we're 4^th in total points earned. We were competitive as anybody.

Q: How do you balance your home life and the blessing of a special needs child with your career?

A: Balancing the plates is never easy. It's always a balancing act. It's interesting, especially after we had Ethan. I'll be honest having Ethan is challenging because out of all things I worry about him and his physical impairment is one I worry about the most, in how to re-act proactively. And to be honest I'm an only kid and I don't have a frame of reference in being a parent or in sibling’s behavior. I've learned a lot. I've learned to accept people for who they are, that there are simple things that matter more than others, like being kind, hoping they will be kind to you. Everyone can be kind. I also think it humbled me a bit, and that's not a bad thing. You learn you can't fix everything and you can't control things. But that doesn't mean you have to accept things for what everyone thinks they should be. You can strive to make the best of what you can and over come barriers. You learn you have to be dependent on other people. You hear that phrase it takes a village, and it really does. No matter the situation, special needs or not, there are always good people around that really want to help, if you let them. For a lot of people that's a hard thing to do, because you want to be independent and handle things on your own. It's humbling to say you can't do things on your own, but it's also freeing in it own way too.

Q: What are some of the disadvantages of this career?

A:   It’s the good and the bad: the travel. It’s fun because of all the different places we get to, that we haven't yet been and yet there are a long times we are away. Students have to catch up on work and I as well, additional to catching up on things at home.

Q: What advice would you give to someone going into this career?

A:   It’s beneficial in that it gets you out of the classroom. The blessing and the down side of communication is it's more like a funnel of huge career opportunities, but it doesn't groove you for one specific task. In other words, it's different from say a degree in accounting, where guess what you're going to do: accounting. But if your degree is in communications there is no communication factory. It gives you ton of flexibility, in terms of a career. It may not prepare you for one specific job, it's not a machinist position. It's really good if you have any idea of what you want to do, or if you plan on internships in the future. The ability to demonstrate that you can communicate efficiently will give you a leg up, in terms of a career.

Q:   Do you see a future for those who have a communications degree or is the field of study declining?

A:   Two things, employers say that communication skills are very important and it's highly considered when employers are hiring. It's actually more important than your GPA or where you went to school. We live in a society where things are changing so fast, what is state-of-the-art today won't be four years from now.

Q: In your off time what events or hobbies do you enjoy?

A: Aside from spending a lot of time with the family, I read a lot. Since we debate a variety of subjects, I like to read a variety of material. Which I enjoy anyway, but in my head I think of it has debate prep, even though it isn't. I sing a pretty good bit. My dad was a minster in music and youth. I'm in leadership in music service. That's about all I have time for.

Q: Additional to your awards achieved during your student years, how many awards have you received at the Professional level, as a coach?

A: My first year of coaching at UC the state association named me the coach of the year. I think I got more votes because they liked me. I don't think there are many awards for the coaching staff. Eventually you work your way into leadership position as awards.

Q: What is the goal of Forensic Communication?

A:   I think it's more important to think constructively and critically while constructing messages to share with others.