Building Leaders Through Speech And Debate | Lynda and Alyssa Sloneker

On this episode of Anchored, Soren is joined by Lynda Sloneker, President of StoaUSA, a Christian homeschool speech and debate league. They are also joined by Lynda’s daughter, Alyssa. They discuss Stoa’s history and mission and how it has personally impacted Alyssa’s journey as a college student. They talk about debating with kindness and charity and the benefits of debating that extend beyond future career options. They conclude by discussing how debate has changed in light of the current political climate and how Stoa is working to fix what has been broken. 

Transcript

Soren Schwab - CLT (00:00.953)
Welcome back to the Anchored Podcast, the official podcast of the Classic Learning Test. My name is Soren Schwab, VP of Partnerships here at CLT. And today we're joined by Linda and Alyssa Slonecker. Linda is originally from Texas, but has lived all over the world, including Greece, Spain, China, and most recently Puerto Rico. She and her family have been a part of STOA, a Christian speech and debate organization for over six years as tournament director on the Training and Development Committee and since 2023 as STOA's president.

Linda earned a BA in literature and an MA in comparative literature from Texas Tech University and has taught English and Spanish both in the homeschool community and at the university level. She and her husband, Del, live in beautiful Northwest Arkansas and have six children, one of whom, Alyssa, is joining us on the podcast today. Alyssa is pursuing a bachelor's degree in history with minors in Spanish and museum studies at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. She is a member of the honor scholars program at JBU.

In her spare time, Alyssa coaches current Stowa competitors. And after graduation, she aspires to work as an art museum curator. And we're so delighted to have them both on Anchor today. Welcome.

Lynda Sloneker (01:10.818)
Thank you so much.

Alyssa (01:12.556)
Thanks for having us.

Soren Schwab - CLT (01:12.909)
Well, as always, we start the Anchored Podcast by talking about our guests own educational background. I'm going to start with you, Linda. I'm curious, talk to us about your K-12 experience and then kind of your journey into homeschooling.

Lynda Sloneker (01:24.526)
Okay, I had a very unusual K through 12 experience. I was in Texas as a young child, went to public school from K through fifth grade. And then one day my dad came home and said, we're moving to Athens, Greece. And so we packed up, this was in 1979. So this was before the internet, before cell phones, before, you know, anything. The only way we could research moving to Greece was to go to the library and look up.

in the World Book Encyclopedia, pictures of Athas and such. So we arrived and I was quickly enrolled into a private American international school. And so I went to international schools until I, all the way up until I was a senior in high school. And then suddenly, just as suddenly returned to the United States as a senior and plopped back into public high school in Lubbock, Texas. So a lot of different experiences in there.

Soren Schwab - CLT (02:20.613)
Very much so, very much so. You homeschooled Alyssa, right, and your kiddos. So talk to us a little bit, kind of, you were not homeschooled yourself. Did you have neighbors that homeschooled? Did you have a bad experience at public school with your kids? What was kind of the decision there to homeschool?

Lynda Sloneker (02:37.92)
Yeah, so that's such a great question. I tell people this story a lot when I talk about homeschooling, but basically I never intended to homeschool. I had this stereotype of homeschoolers that a lot of people do, you know, like denim wearing jumpers, know, bake bread every day, very isolated people. And so, no, I had never had an intention of homeschooling. Of course, I thought to each their own, right, but not for me. However,

Due to a series of circumstances, we ended up living for a period of time when my children were young in Cherokee County, Oklahoma. And the public school system there among the Indian nation is pretty rough. And so I thought, well, I should investigate just for kindergarten, just for kindergarten while we're here. And ended up.

know, investigating homeschooling, learning all about the community and the resources and just the freedom that you have in educating your children according to biblical principles and at the pace that is best for them, using the curriculum of your choice and just really fell in love with it and never looked back. So I usually say God made me God made me homeschool. And I couldn't be more grateful for that.

Soren Schwab - CLT (03:52.888)
Yeah.

Soren Schwab - CLT (03:56.323)
Yeah. So let's say you have how many siblings? Five? Five siblings? that?

Alyssa (04:01.654)
Yes, yes.

Soren Schwab - CLT (04:03.778)
So what, how many older and younger siblings, where do you fall in that?

Alyssa (04:08.458)
I'm second youngest, so there's one younger than me who's actually a freshman at JBU right now. Yes, we were the youngest three were all homeschooled K through 12.

Soren Schwab - CLT (04:11.107)
Second youngest.

Soren Schwab - CLT (04:15.315)
nice.

Soren Schwab - CLT (04:20.067)
So by the time you started the homeschooling, Linda, you've kind of had it partly figured out. I know it's learning every year, but.

Lynda Sloneker (04:28.502)
Yes, yes. Yeah, it takes a, at the beginning it can be a bit challenging, but fortunately there are so many resources out there for homeschoolers that, you know, if you're just even kind of trying, you can find the right approach and curriculum for your family.

Soren Schwab - CLT (04:46.494)
And for you, Alyssa, obviously growing up with older siblings that were homeschooled, was there ever a time when you thought, man, I really want to go to the public school or was it just in the Slanegar household, it was just so expected and enjoyed?

Alyssa (05:01.144)
There is definitely a growing curve, I think around that time, 12, 13, 14, when you're finding yourself and you have friends that are in the public school or private school systems. And obviously at that age, every, always seems like the grass is greener on the other side. And so yeah, I think all three of us that were homeschooled went through a small period of time where we wondered what that would be like. But as we mature,

and began to appreciate the style of education we were receiving from our parents. I believe all three of us are very, very appreciative of that. And I, for one, love being homeschooled and intend to do the same in the future with my children.

Soren Schwab - CLT (05:44.781)
Right. And we'll talk more about that later on. But you're defying, of course, all the stereotypes about maybe that you even had, Linda, about about homeschooling. So talk to us a little bit about STOA, kind of the history and the mission of STOA. And I think when people hear hear STOA and I got to be honest, Kimberly Farley, as you know her well, she corrected me because I just assumed at first STOA is an acronym, but it's not. So what does what does STOA mean?

Lynda Sloneker (05:53.262)
for sure.

Lynda Sloneker (06:10.52)
Yes.

Soren Schwab - CLT (06:13.606)
and talk to us a little bit about how you got involved in kind of the history and mission of STOLA.

Lynda Sloneker (06:18.51)
Yeah, you're not alone in that. Most people do think, they assume that STOA is an acronym for something. It is not. It refers to the Greek place of oratory where, you know, in ancient Greece, people would stand in a STOA and deliver speeches and such. So that is the name. It refers specifically to that. STOA has a really fascinating history. Essentially, HSLDA, which is the Homeschool Legal Defense Association,

Soren Schwab - CLT (06:20.612)
good.

Lynda Sloneker (06:48.458)
established initially a homeschool forensics league that then grew into an organization called the NCFCA, which for many years was the only option. And then about 15 years ago, 2009, a group of leaders within that organization preferred and desired a different style of governance.

And so they chose to break off from NCFCA because they wanted more local control. You can think of it a lot like the federal versus the state type of structure. NCFCA was preferring more of a national control of all the decision making and the STOA leaders were wanting that control and decision making to be in the hands of local clubs and tournament directors and that kind of thing. So it was kind of a philosophical split in that sense.

Soren Schwab - CLT (07:22.425)
Mm-hmm.

Lynda Sloneker (07:42.86)
but we are not unfriendly with each other. We just see things a bit differently as far as approaches of how to do things. And since that time, several years ago now, the NCFCA opened their doors to include all Christian students. So they are a ministry and a league available to Christian students who attend private school, public school, and homeschool. Whereas DOA has really held to its roots of homeschooling. So we are the only...

National Home School Speech and Debate League.

Soren Schwab - CLT (08:14.754)
And when did you get involved? Maybe how did you hear about it for the first time? And then of course, when did you start having your kids participate in STOA?

Lynda Sloneker (08:24.174)
Yeah. So we were living in China and had been very plugged into our local homeschool community before moving. And after spending three years there, we moved back in 2011. And I was just literally just looking in my local like homeschool news stuff for opportunities to get involved. And I saw this this local homeschool mom was hosting a camp. had invited a coach, a Stowa coach. I didn't know a thing about Stowa or anything else at that time.

from California to come to our area of Northwest Arkansas and do a summer week long camp with just anybody who might be interested. So we attended that and we're so impressed and inspired by what STOA offered that a group of five families from our community then formed a local STOA club. And that's when we got really involved. So our club formed in 2013. We've been around about 11 years now.

And from the get-go, mean, my youngest was only like six at the time. So he just would come and hang out. But he observed and then our club chose to have a juniors program. So pretty soon he was able to do at least the speech side of it on a junior level. James and Alyssa, my next two, they just like immediately started seeing benefits of it. So we just grew and...

You know, we've been, this is our 11th year as a club. Charles, my youngest graduated in May, but I'm in it for the long haul. truly see Stowe as a ministry and not just a homeschool experience. So, yeah.

Soren Schwab - CLT (10:07.641)
Yeah. So Alyssa, you are both the recipient kind of of the Stowa training and participating in tournaments and now doing the coaching yourself. Talk to us a little bit about your experience with Stowa and what you love about it.

Alyssa (10:23.116)
Well, I am very, very thankful that I got the opportunity to participate in STOA from all the years I had of eligibility from 12 to when I graduated high school. I was 19 at the time. So I had a good long time in STOA and truly that was the most...

formative time in my life because I got to explore so many areas, so many disciplines, become educated in those areas, but also grow my self-confidence to be able to communicate my worldview.

whether that be on a particular political issue or issues of religion and things of that realm, it gave me the ability and the confidence to communicate that effectively. And with our founding verse in 1 Peter talking about how...

We are called by God to be able to communicate and give a defense for our faith, but also do that in charity and in kindness. And I truly believe Stoa gave me that ability to not only know why I was right or investigate why I might believe the things that I do and dig more deeper, but also be able to do that in kindness and charity. So that's why I love Stoa.

Soren Schwab - CLT (11:44.258)
that so much. you know, naive, soren from many, many years ago, would probably say, Well, I like the concept of speech and debate, you know, but I don't really want to be a lawyer, right? Like, you know, I don't really want to pursue a career path, where that would help me. I have since learned that it's of course not correct. But Linda, you probably hear that a few times as well. So what was kind of the case that you would make for a family that, you know, that is

thinking about joining Stola, joining Speech and Debate as to the benefits beyond the career.

Lynda Sloneker (12:21.21)
this is such a rich question. So many things I could say. But if a person off the street visited a local SOA tournament, they would find very few, very, very few students who intended to pursue a legal career. is so that is just like one of the possible fruits. It's not even something we talk about or a focus on or anything. The students of SOA are just so diverse.

Of course, there are those people who have interest in politics and law, but there's a whole category of speech events, for example, that focus on interpretive delivery, interpretive type speeches. So those attract theater kids and kids who like to express themselves with different characters that they see from great literature or even from scripture. And then we have other categories of speeches that allow students to pursue their personal interests.

whatever those may be. But in terms of the actual students, we see the vast number of students that come in are shy and scared to speak. It's the rare student that comes to club that is just like ready to stand up and deliver a speech. It doesn't come naturally to us as human beings. And so it's a growing, it is like a long-term process. You're in it for the long run and for the long-term benefits. It's a bit like...

I use this analogy in my own club. I tell students, you didn't sit down at a piano and start playing Beethoven. You sat down and started playing the most basic chords and keys. It took probably several weeks even to get any of that down. And so it's the same thing with speech and debate. It's a critical thinking skill that develops over years of practice.

But also do want to say, and just like I said, there's so much I could say about this question, but I want to say that many kids that come into STOA, their parents seek it out as an opportunity to give their students who may have certain challenges and disabilities an opportunity to work on those. We have kids who come in who are trying to overcome a stutter.

Lynda Sloneker (14:30.598)
who are trying to overcome other speaking or processing issues. In fact, one of the most moving national ceremonies we've ever had was a student from Oklahoma who was autistic. And he delivered a speech during the year, just the sweetest young man ever about autism and what it is like to live with that. And he actually won original oratory.

at the national championship with that speech. And he was a student who, you know, just struggled to speak in sentences and clear thoughts when he first came into STOA. So there are so many inspiring stories about how this activity develops kids in ways that really nothing else can because it's just a, it's a unique set of activities that we do.

Soren Schwab - CLT (15:23.385)
Wow, that is incredible. Alyssa, I read in the introduction that you're a history major, museum studies and Spanish minor, and you're thinking about working at an art museum as a curator. So again, not kind of pursuing the legal route. Talk to us a little bit about what skills you've gained from being in Stowa that serve you now at JBU and probably for your whole life.

Alyssa (15:50.848)
Yeah, I definitely do not think you have to go into the legal field for STOA or speech debate to serve you or grow you. I see as a college student my ability from impromptu speaking and having to form arguments quickly and precisely that has carried me throughout my college career and essay writing and even just having the confidence to communicate with my professors who are distinguished people in their

field and be able to go to them with questions, but with confidence. And I think that no matter what field you're in in a university, that is going to be helpful to you, particularly in the field that I am in and hope to be in in the future in some way with art history and history as a whole. There are a lot of changes going on, as we know, in society and a lot of that is expressed in art.

and being in classes where I have professors or students who have vastly different interpretations of what society ought to look like going forward in the modern era, and being able to express my views with confidence because of STOA has been extraordinarily helpful.

Soren Schwab - CLT (17:14.969)
Yeah, no, that's fascinating. you get a sense, know, and John Brown University is a pretty high performing, a lot of high performing students. But do you feel like you even freshman year, you felt like, you know, you've got kind of a little bit of an edge or advantage, maybe some students that didn't do speech and debate or that didn't, you know, obviously weren't part of STOA.

Alyssa (17:40.184)
100%. 100%. I think just the training of how to form arguments, knowing what logical fallacies are, how to be intellectually curious, all of those things are.

really, really changed the way that I experienced my first year of college. And I believe I'm a senior now. So all of the years of college, I believe that I had an advantage because of the training I received in SOA.

Soren Schwab - CLT (18:12.769)
incredible. Linda, I was a few years ago now, I went to my first STOA tournament. And I was just absolutely amazed by these young men and women. And and thinking back to again, some of the stereotypes that you hear about homeschoolers and, you know, they're kind of socially awkward and they don't. And it is just so far from the truth. These young men and women came up to me shook my hand made eye contact.

were able to hold a conversation about pretty much any topic. I really do think that over the next few years, the perception that we have about homeschool students, especially coming from as an employer, an employer's perspective, is going to fundamentally change. Because I've talked to some students in some public schools, and of course, there are exceptions. But so many of them couldn't hold a conversation. They were constantly looking at their phones.

Lynda Sloneker (18:45.518)
here.

Soren Schwab - CLT (19:10.775)
so many of these distractions. And it was night and day at Stowa. And so that's such a testament to the work that you are doing. so would you, obviously you would agree with that. But you spoke a little bit about the kind of student that comes to Stowa. And it sounds like really everyone, this is for students that really have no experience.

and just want to grow as a person, as a speaker, but also for students that absolutely have an interest in tournaments. So it's a pretty wide range. Is that accurate?

Lynda Sloneker (19:48.968)
Yeah, yeah. And what happens is everybody begins at the beginning, right? And nobody is born being a natural, excellent speaker. They may have some propensity towards it. They may have some natural talent, but they have to be grown and developed in those things. And so I say that to my club all the time. Everybody begins at the beginning. And so what the goal is, is that

Soren Schwab - CLT (19:54.137)
Mm-hmm.

Lynda Sloneker (20:12.32)
It is through going to tournaments that students really polish and develop their skills. It's kind of like a good analogy would be if you play for a basketball team and all you ever do is just drills on the court with your local, you know, at the local level with your team, you're only going to progress to a certain level. You have to go play in games. You have to go be challenged. You have to have the competition and the drive to, you know, do your best when compared to others outside of your immediate group. And so the tournaments are

sort of the way we add polish, right? We learn our skills in our local clubs and we go and attend tournaments and it's there that we face the tough competition. so I say that everybody starts out, have ranked, students are ranked in speech events, first through eighth, and we only put fifth, up to fifth on the ballot, which is, you know, you have judged before, you've seen those ballots, but.

Everything else is fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, is a fifth and below category. So I always say everybody is fifth and below when they start. Everybody is fifth and below. And you may be fifth and below for years before you're not. But the 100%, if you keep at it and you keep attending tournaments and practicing and polishing those skills, you do, you will naturally rise to the top. As you get older, students get older, their critical thinking skills develop.

they just sort of naturally end up moving closer to the top during their years of competition.

Soren Schwab - CLT (21:44.226)
Alyssa, you've participated in tournaments, I assume, and now you're coaching students that are participating in tournaments. What are some of the competitions that you, if you were to go to Stowa event, that you would see? And then maybe from your own experience, what were your favorites slash best? I'm sure there maybe is an overlap activities and that you had.

Alyssa (22:02.55)
Hmm. Yeah.

Alyssa (22:08.204)
Yeah, so I competed in Lincoln Douglas value debate, is.

as it sounds, value debate. So it's a philosophical debate of ideas rather than team policy debate, which is policy debate with teams of two. And then I did parliamentary debate, which is based off of the British parliament style of debate. So it's also two teams of two government and opposition. So I did parliamentary and I Lincoln Douglas. And then I wasn't the biggest interp. I'm not a theater. I have tons of respect for theater kids.

I'm not one. I tended to write on philosophy and things surrounding current events but yeah that those were my favorite events I coach debate now I don't really coach much of just because my passion was in debate so I currently I have a novice team that when I can I go to tournaments I was able to go to our national tournament and support them and I coach them and their parliamentary rounds so

I help prep them outside of rounds. talk to them about strategy. And then I also help with Lincoln Douglas where I'm needed.

Soren Schwab - CLT (23:40.941)
That's incredible. Linda, I think it's safe to say that kind of public discourse, if we're looking at politics and what we're seeing on TV and some of the debates, it's up par and certainly not what it used to be during the older debates. Obviously, it's such a divisive time where at least we're told, you know, everything is divisive.

Lynda Sloneker (23:56.322)
Yeah, yeah.

Soren Schwab - CLT (24:08.493)
How does that factor into speech and debate? And maybe what are some of the things that you're coaching your students on when approaching a controversial topic or when there is a disagreement? How do you navigate that during these difficult times?

Lynda Sloneker (24:30.252)
Yeah, well, go back to your initial comments about debates we're watching on television. I don't even call those debates. I would never even have a student watch them. They're an exercise in like what not to do more than anything else. So as Alyssa mentioned, know, a key focus of Stoa is we are not about ultimately, we are not about creating great debaters. We are about creating

Soren Schwab - CLT (24:37.537)
Yeah, that's a good point.

Lynda Sloneker (24:59.776)
students and young adults who love the Lord and who can speak and argue points of view with other people in a way that is winsome and appealing. And we're not trying to hit anybody over the head. We all know that wins nothing. It doesn't achieve anything if you're just hitting someone with your own ideologies. so we want, know, so his mission is to teach, to train home school children to speak boldly and change the world for Christ.

And so that is our goal. want young people to speak boldly to change the world for Christ. And speech and debate is the mechanism that we use to do that. So our goal is always about the character and the growth of the child. The outcome is widely diverse and depending on the events that they choose to participate in. But I would say that's the biggest thing we try to teach our debaters. We have a low tolerance for snark.

We have a low tolerance for rudeness and that kind of approach. There's a line of being sharp and appropriately aggressive in your argumentation. And then the line over that is rude. And we don't tolerate that. Local clubs don't tolerate it. Tournaments don't tolerate it. So I hope that if we ever see a Stowa student on a presidential debate platform,

they will reflect a character of winsomeness and godliness and love for others and not what we see in the current climate.

Soren Schwab - CLT (26:37.795)
Let's hope that happens one day. That would be marvelous. That would be marvelous. Well, this has been absolutely delightful. I appreciate your sharing about Stoa, about the tournaments. If listeners never heard about Stoa before and is now just absolutely convinced, yes, that's what I want for my child, how can they learn more about the organization?

Lynda Sloneker (26:40.075)
Absolutely. Fantastic. Yes.

Lynda Sloneker (27:00.256)
Yes, thank you so much for asking that. have a website that is very robust, and by that I mean

We just have so much information. It can be sometimes hard to find what you're looking for with when there is so much to go through, but go to our website stoausa.org and if you want to visit a local tournament, there's a calendar on there so you could go on. Go in there, see if there's one near you and go visit and judge and bring your kids and let them sort of see and be inspired by what what all we're doing there. But there's all kinds of information about the events that we have and.

how to start a club, if you'd like to start a local club. You know, we're in 33 states, but we would love to be in all 50 states. Maybe even abroad, we have some interests up from Canada. So we'd love to grow in everywhere. And sometimes people's first question is, well, is there a club near me? And then if not, they kind of assume that they're out of luck. But I just want to say, there was no club near me when I started and I knew nothing, less than nothing. I was...

Soren Schwab - CLT (27:35.968)
Mm-hmm. Yes.

Lynda Sloneker (28:02.732)
the most painfully shy teenager in the world. If my friends from back in the day knew that I was coaching speech and debate, they would like fall over, know, astonishment because I knew nothing about this when I started and my whole team knew nothing about it when we started, but we learned and we grew. So I encourage people to start new clubs and...

The blessing of it is never ending. It's just such a great thing for your families and for your kids and for yourself. I personally have grown tremendously in my roles.

Soren Schwab - CLT (28:35.191)
Yeah, and it's incredible what the Lord is doing. I've heard about Stowa for the first time six years ago and just seeing the growth from six years ago until now is just astonishing. So thanks for all you do, Linda. And of course, Alyssa, I do have one more question. It's the one we always ask at the end and oftentimes the most difficult one to answer because we all love books and texts. Is there one text or one book that you can point to that has been

really, really impactful on your life and explain to us why that was the case.

Lynda Sloneker (29:55.062)
Yeah, I had a hard time with this. As you mentioned, we all want to choose the Bible, but I know that that is true for all of us. So I'm going to go with one that a book called Victory Over the Darkness by Neil Anderson. It's been around for a while, but it was very influential for me in my in my thirties as I sort of dealt with past issues and helped other people ultimately in ministry dealing with issues of the past. It's about

overcoming past hurts and past issues and not allowing those things to drag you down in life. Ultimately, it's a spiritual warfare type of a book that's just very useful and eye-opening. Neil Anderson.

Soren Schwab - CLT (30:39.671)
And you said it was Neil Anderson? Wonderful. Awesome. Thank you so much. Again, we're here with Linda and Alyssa Slonecker of Stoa, Christian Speech and Debate Organization. Go check them out. Go to the website, stoausa.org. Both of you really appreciate your time. Thanks for joining Anchor.

Lynda Sloneker (30:57.922)
Thank you so much.