Native son comes home to teach/coach at Central

Central Wyoming College has a new coach for its fledgling speech and debate team, and he’s looking for new recruits.

Josh House, a Riverton High School graduate and a successful member of the University of Wyoming’s forensics program, is CWC’s new instructor of communication and the director of the forensics program.

CWC begins its second year competing in intercollegiate speech after a two decade hiatus. House, who comes to CWC after coaching at both Pepperdine and Purdue universities, is excited to be at home.

While some of the students who were on the team last year are returning, House is looking to expand the numbers and he’s ready to prepare students for competition. He anticipates the team will compete in four-to-six tournaments in both the fall and spring semesters.

Participating in forensics enhances oral and written communication and teaches organizational skills, House said. He does not require prior speech and debate experience. There are scholarships available for participants.

At both Pepperdine and Purdue, House’s speech teams qualified for the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence (NPTE) for the first time in the history of both universities. At UW, House and his partner qualified to the invitation-only NPTE and were ranked fifth in the nation.

House finished his bachelor’s degree at Purdue following his future wife, Kristine Clancy, who was working on her PhD there. The two both coached at Purdue and Pepperdine and House completed his master’s degree at California State Long Beach.

Clancy is teaching online courses from Riverton for Walden University.

Interested students are asked to contact House at 855-2257 or email him at jhouse@cwc.edu.