John Semple competed in Stoa for six years and has been involved in the Stoa community since 2011. He remembers cheering for his sisters whenever they got awards and dreaming of competing. From his first year competing in Stoa until his last he learned skills from the ground up. Beginning with Apologetics and Lincoln Douglas only, he eventually added more events to his repertoire. His first hint of success began in the 2020-2021 season when he placed third in Lincoln Douglas debate at Virtual Green. Facing sporadic success from there, John hunkered down and began to invest serious time and energy into Stoa, eventually moving past his inconsistencies. In his senior year, John expanded his event list to include interpretation events, and found they taught him skills he was lacking. He proceeded to consistently place highly in all 10 of his regular events through his senior year, eventually earning first place titles in Apologetics, Impromptu, Extemporaneous, Original Oratory, Expository, Open Interpretation, Parliamentary, Parliamentary speaker points, Lincoln Douglas, Lincoln Douglas speaker points, and Team Policy. His favorite speech was his Expository with which he won six tournaments. At NITOC 2023, John won the national titles in Lincoln Douglas debate and Apologetics speaking, broke the NITOC record for picket fences with seven, and was awarded the second place Tournament Champion award. John’s foremost struggle and foremost goal in Stoa has been to constantly press in for God’s wisdom and trust Him with all results. John now coaches all speech and debate events, but specializes in debate, limited prep, and expository. He is excited to see where God leads him through the rest of his life.