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Chase High Speech and Debate has had a banner year in coaching recognition. Head Coach J. Patrick Moss was named the Carolina West NSDA District's Coach of the Year, and now Assistant Coach, Harley Burgess, was recently named the Tarheel Forensic League's Assistant Coach of the Year for 2022. This is the second consecutive year that Harley has received Assistant Coach recognition, as she was named the Carolina West NSDA District Assistant Coach of the Year in 2021.
Burgess began her career as a student at Chase High, rising to the position of Debate Captain for the program. She competed at Harvard and was coach J. Patrick Moss's first LD debate student to qualify for the National Tournament. She was named Carolina West Student of the Year in the Spring of 2014. In the Fall of 2014, while attending Gardner-Webb University, she accepted an assistant coaching position at Chase, returning to help her Alma Mater and the debate students at East Rutherford. In her eight years of assistant coaching, she has traveled with the team all over North and South Carolina and has judged hundreds of debate rounds. She has also finished up her undergraduate and master's degrees from Gardner-Webb during this time.
"It is a privilege to represent small schools on the state level in this capacity. Receiving accolades as a coach is always a pleasant surprise," Burgess said.
Head Coach J. Patrick Moss remarked: "I'm blessed to have Harley. She was one of the best students I ever taught, and she has been a steadfast assistant. If you look at the core of what makes Rutherford County debate students competitive, you'll see that Harley Burgess is one of the main components."
