Antonina Clementi spent one year at Trinity Prep as Assistant Director of Speech and Debate, but for the students she worked with, one year was enough to leave a lasting impact. Next fall, she heads to American Heritage Schools in South Florida, where she will be Assistant Director of Debate.
Clementi began coaching at 18 years old, right after her own competitive career as a high school debater. She saw a demand for quality coaches and a chance to watch students grow.
“What really attracts me to [speech and debate] is making connections with the kids and seeing how it can help them grow and see how it can change their confidence or make them better speakers,” Clementi said.
Senior Ashton Paul felt that passion throughout this year, whether it was always being available to judge a mock or checking in with teams after each round.
“She genuinely knows debate at a really high level and you can tell she actually cared about each person on the team” Paul said.
Her own coach at Western Kentucky University, Chad Meadows, shaped her coaching philosophy and showed her the importance of meeting students where they are.
“If a kid just wants to be better at public speaking, that’s fine, and if a kid wants to win nationals, that’s fine too,” Clementi said. “So just kind of finding out what their goal is and helping them to meet that goal.”
One of Clementi’s priorities this year was to help expand the speech and debate program to middle schoolers, something new for her personally.
“Some of our middle schoolers have the potential to be really good in a couple of years,” Clementi said. “It’s really exciting to see them grow and develop.”
Clementi was struck by how Trinity’s students approached debate compared to other schools she has coached at. Students at Trinity have a more forward looking lens when it comes to speech and debate.
“They’re more focused on not only doing debate right now, but how debate can help them in their future careers and how they can use debate to help them in college, which I think is a pretty useful skill,” Clementi said.
Outside the debate room, she carries fond memories of Trinity’s culture, especially their inclusivity of different faiths despite being an Episcopal school.
“I’ll miss how inclusive it is and how much they try to incorporate all the different cultures,” Clementi said. “Even though it’s an Episcopal school, we celebrated Holi and things like that.”
Clementi will also miss Culture Fest, a newfound tradition that is unique to Trinity and a testament to the school’s commitment to inclusivity.
“I really loved Culture Fest, too. and how they had all the different countries,” Clementi said. “It was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.”
For Paul, losing a coach is a familiar frustration, as he has seen other coaches leave the program. Despite Clementi’s short time here, he recognizes the mark she left on the program.
“It’s hard when you finally get comfortable with a coach and then they leave,” Paul said. “But she definitely had a good impact on the team.”
Clementi sees Trinity as a meaningful chapter in her coaching career and looks forward to crossing paths with her students on the local and national circuit.
“I’m excited to still get to see the kids from Trinity at tournaments,” Clementi said. “And I think it will be really exciting.”
