Dr. Heidi Dailey’s classroom door is swung right open. Inside the room is a quiet class, who tap on their keyboards as she meets with a student, their voices a whisper. Sitting near the front of the room sits a student, his head bent slightly down as he reads off his screen intently, tapping along every so often. 

It is evident that Senior Evan Funk is not only deeply involved with the Speech and Debate Club but his life as a student as well. 

“I like speech and debate because it’s much more free and independent,” Funk said.

Funk is president of the Speech and Debate Club. He joined the team in his freshman year, along with multiple other activities such as cross country and engineering. Funk feels that he has learned good leadership skills in speech and debate.

“I really like running the tournament recently,” Funk said. “I felt a big sense of accomplishment from completing all the events on time. I think it really benefited everyone on the team.”

Funk plans to go to college for Computer and Electrical Engineering while minoring in Entrepreneuring. His teacher, Bobby Phelps, agrees with his beliefs. 

“As president of our Fort Osage Speech and Debate team and honor society, Evan Funk upholds the highest standards of humility, equity, integrity, respect, leadership and service in the pursuit of excellence,” Phelps said in an email. 

Funk is also involved with the youth advisory council, track and field, the computer science club and student ambassadors. Vice President of Speech Keegan Maples finds Funk to be a committed student.

“Evan is a very hardworking and dedicated person,” Maples said in an email. “I enjoy working with him.”

Funk’s advice for newcomers to speech and debate is to keep pushing yourself forward.

“Get out of your comfort zone,” Funk said. “I’d say make sure you perform in front of other people outside of the debates. Sometimes in class you have those opportunities to speak in front of others, so make sure you take them.”

Funk opens up his laptop screen to go back to work, his eyes darting back and forth as he analyzes the screen. He glances down at the keyboard for a split second, his hands hovering over the keys before typing once more. He pauses as he relaxes his shoulders, reading over the text with a proud expression knowing his hard work has paid off.