Jon Bruschke stumbled into debate by accident. He couldn't get into his high school metal shop class, but a class on debate worked into his schedule. He didn't realize then how that initial scheduling conflict would change his life.
The human communications studies professor grew to love the challenge and intellectual stimulation that debating offered.
"Debating is so intense and so high-energy," Bruschke said. "You spend huge amounts of time on research and it builds you up intellectually. Most debaters are a little quirky - they have a lot to say and this is a different way for them to say it."
As the coach of Cal State Fullerton's award-winning debate team, Bruschke has coached teams that have been victorious against the likes of Harvard, Berkeley, Northwestern and USC.
"It's kind of funny because we accept anybody on our debate team as long as they've willing to put in the work," he said. "In fact, a lot of times students join because someone they're dating is on the team or it fit in with their class schedule. As a result, we have students with many different majors: communications, history, political science, philosophy. The only thing we care about is your passion and willingness to work hard."
Students also join because they met one of the approximately 20 members of the debate team (and Bruschke) while they were in high school. Some of Cal State Fullerton's best debaters were actively involved in the Southern California Urban Debate League (SCUDL), a program in which Cal State Fullerton students work with economically underserved high school students who may have had no opportunity to get involved with a debate team.
