Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Andrew Pudewa insists, “If you're ever feeling a little low on hope for the future, get yourself to a speech and debate tournament and just see young people flourishing in every way.” In this episode, learn why he believes this as he and Julie Walker interview three of the NCFCA 2025 Champions: Abbagail Fagot, Pierce Stanton, and Jonathan Paul. These students share how they started with speech and debate, how it prepares them academically, and how it benefitted them in some intangible ways as well.
Referenced Materials
• NCFCA (https://ncfca.org)
• Episode 487: Helping Students Avoid Plagiarism, Part 1 (iew.com/support/podcast/episode-487-helping-students-avoid-plagiarism-pt1)
• Episode 459: Speech and Debate with Christy Shipe (iew.com/support/podcast/episode-459-speech-debate-christy-shipe)
• Episode 427: NCFCA with Kim Cromer✟ (iew.com/support/podcast/episode-427-ncfca-with-kim-cromer)
• Introduction to Public Speaking (iew.com/ips)
• Introduction to Public Speaking free lessons (iew.com/try-speech)
• NCFCA 2025–26 Tournaments (ncfca.org/tournaments?_e=0)
• Transcript of Podcast Episode 514 (storage.googleapis.com/iew-public-production/files/podcast/fileattachment/E514_Transcript012826.pdf.docx.pdf)
If you have questions for Andrew, send them to podcast@IEW.com (https://iew.commailto:podcast@IEW.com)
Perhaps your question will be answered at the next Ask Andrew Anything (AAA).
If you have questions about IEW products or classes, contact customer service at 800.856.5815 or info@IEW.com (https://iew.commailto:info@IEW.com)
Andrew Pudewa insists, “If you're ever feeling a little low on hope for the future, get yourself to a speech and debate tournament and just see young people flourishing in every way.” In this episode, learn why he believes this as he and Julie Walker interview three of the NCFCA 2025 Champions: Abbagail Fagot, Pierce Stanton, and Jonathan Paul. These students share how they started with speech and debate, how it prepares them academically, and how it benefitted them in some intangible ways as well.
Referenced Materials
• NCFCA (https://ncfca.org)
• Episode 487: Helping Students Avoid Plagiarism, Part 1 (iew.com/support/podcast/episode-487-helping-students-avoid-plagiarism-pt1)
• Episode 459: Speech and Debate with Christy Shipe (iew.com/support/podcast/episode-459-speech-debate-christy-shipe)
• Episode 427: NCFCA with Kim Cromer✟ (iew.com/support/podcast/episode-427-ncfca-with-kim-cromer)
• Introduction to Public Speaking (iew.com/ips)
• Introduction to Public Speaking free lessons (iew.com/try-speech)
• NCFCA 2025–26 Tournaments (ncfca.org/tournaments?_e=0)
• Transcript of Podcast Episode 514 (storage.googleapis.com/iew-public-production/files/podcast/fileattachment/E514_Transcript012826.pdf.docx.pdf)
If you have questions for Andrew, send them to podcast@IEW.com (https://iew.commailto:podcast@IEW.com)
Perhaps your question will be answered at the next Ask Andrew Anything (AAA).
If you have questions about IEW products or classes, contact customer service at 800.856.5815 or info@IEW.com (https://iew.commailto:info@IEW.com)
