This summer Calhoun High School took another step toward attaining national prominence for their debate program by hiring Ed Williams to coach the debate team. The former coach from Woodward Academy will be joining the faculty at Calhoun High this fall, and in addition to his coaching responsibilities he will be teaching government and economics. Judge Lane Bearden, the former coach, will take on the new position as Director of Debate, and will continue as head coach of the Calhoun Middle School team.
“Coach Williams is one of the most successful high school debate coaches in the country,” said Judge Bearden, “and has coached teams to win or compete in the finals rounds of every major national debate tournament. Ed has been instrumental in building successful debate programs at Charlotte Latin in North Carolina, Marist and Woodward Academy in Atlanta. He has coached debate at the best college summer workshops from Maine to Texas.”
Calhoun Principal Wanda Westmoreland agreed: “We are extremely pleased and honored to welcome to our faculty an individual of such reputation and stature. We feel that the expertise of Mr. Williams will contribute to the continuation of the rich, historical tradition of the Calhoun High School Debate Program.”
“We worked for a solid a year to get him to here,” Bearden added, “Coach Williams was finally won over by the encouragement of the school faculty and administration, the talent and enthusiasm of Calhoun’s young debate squad, and by the overwhelming community support for the team. Williams said he was also attracted by the opportunity to raise his children in the small-town atmosphere, away from the traffic and congestion of downtown Atlanta. The Williams family – Ed, his wife Joann, and their daughters Aurellia and Zoe, have already moved to Calhoun. Joann Brown Williams, who is also a former champion debater, is an attorney with the Atlanta firm of Krevolin & Horst.
(Photo attached: Calhoun debaters welcome new coach: L-R: Ben Jordon, Gail Smith, Leah Smith, Leanne Reagin, Judge Lane Bearden, Coach Edward Williams, Matthew Bishop, Leah Poole, Dana Higgins, Ricky Coates)