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I recently traveled to Polson to cover the District 14-C basketball tournament. I’ve been to Polson before, but never for that long of a stretch. Polson may have a Wal-Mart, McDonald’s and Starbucks, but it’s still a small town.

One morning during breakfast I met Brett Butler, the assistant coach of Polson High School’s speech and debate team. He started talking about how the team was running the concessions stand at the basketball tournament to fundraise. Anyone who has ever been anywhere with me knows that I like to ask questions, so I inquired about the speech and debate team. I don’t really know what they do.

Butler was very enthusiastic about his team. With only six students, the team has done amazing things. At the state speech and debate event, junior Kai McDonald won first place in the Humorous Interpretation category. The event was in Sidney. If you haven’t heard of Sidney, find North Dakota on a map and look just west into Montana and you’ll find it. Seattle is closer to Polson than Sidney. From there, McDonald entered a national qualifier event and was chosen to attend the national finals. That competition is in Phoenix. Knowing what a positive experience that would be for the team, Butler and his wife, the team’s head coach, are taking the entire team by RV to Arizona to experience the national stage. They have to raise all the funds for the trips, which is why the team was working the concession stand at the basketball tournament last weekend.

Butler told me how McDonald came back to school after winning the state event and was like a rock star walking the halls. I was so excited hearing about the Polson student’s accomplishments. I donated to their trip and I’ll definitely be checking in after the national competition.

Sometimes it’s hard to see past our small towns, but our kids need to know that they have opportunities. You can go to a state tournament in sports or in speech and debate. We just need to be there to support them in whatever they want to try. ­— Annie Wooden