A “guest” post by Robert!
Alex is an amazing Extemper! One of the very best. In fact he’s in the top 50 in the country! How do I know that? Because he placed 48th at the Speech and Debate Nationals competition in May of this year. And I was there to witness it. Well, not actually witness it because parents don’t really go in to watch Extemporaneous.
What is this word, Extemporaneous? Well, Extemp for short (which is nice because it takes a long time to type it though not as long as it took to type this explanatory aside). In short, each round he competes against 7 or so others. Each contestant gets a random topic and then has 30 minutes to prepare AND give a 7 minute speech about it. Extemp is considered one of the hardest events in Speech because how do you practice for spontaneity?
Well, not actually witness it because parents don’t really go in to watch Extemperaneous. What is this word, Extemperaneous? Well, Extemp for short (which is nice because it takes a long time to type it though not as long as it took to type this explanatory aside). In short, each round he competes against 7 or so others. Each contestant gets a random topic and then has 30 minutes to prepare AND give a speech about it. Extemp is considered one of the hardest events in Speech because how do you practice for spontaneity?
I went with him because 1) I wanted to and 2) the school needed to provide a certain number of judges (i.e. parents) or get fined. Funny thing, I was never assigned a single round to judge, so most of the time I read or worked on work stuff on my laptop (no I didn’t do any street dentistry in the back alleyways of Lousiville). 
We did, however, go to Cracker Barrel. TWICE! Because it was conveniently located across the street from our hotel. We Ubered a couple of times (cheaper than rental car for this trip). And except for the guy who couldn’t drive over 2 mph, and didn’t put his cigarette out, it worked out great. 
The hotel had a shuttle that would take people short distances for FREE! One of those places was the Kentucky Derby racecourse just up the road. So with some down time, Alex and I went to the Kentucky Derby! Not really, but we did go to the museum there and even got a guided tour to the racecourse where we saw an actual horse race! I didn’t win anything, but it was my first horse race.
We spent easily 2 (maybe 3) hours in the museum. It was really fascinating learning about the history of horse racing in America. And Jockeys. 
They ARE athletes, I don’t care what anyone tells you otherwise. There was an exhibit on how these guys, albeit small, have to be incredibly fit to do what they do. 
The next day we flew home without incident and now, like rowing, Speech and Debate is but a fond memory. I will miss it. So will Alex. And I miss Alex too. Please come visit sometime.
Robert.
P.S. Our neighborhood creates this banner each year to celebrate all the seniors in our neighborhood. This year...Alex’s name was on it. We also get a party at the pool to celebrate these kids and they get amazing gift baskets with college necessities and treats. It’s pretty amazing!
