The Brooks Academy is a private program that is open to students of all ages who wish to learn, practice, and participate in competitive speech and debate. It seeks to promote and strengthen the speech and debate community in the greater San Francisco Bay Area through student participation in public speaking classes and competitions. All members of The Brooks Academy are former competitors and/or coaches who believe firmly in the values and skills that competitive speech and debate promotes.
The Brooks Academy was co-founded in the Summer of 2013 by Stephan Brooks and Steven Leal, two individuals who each have been involved in forensics (speech and debate) for over a decade. The two competed for and coached the nationally recognized forensics program at James Logan High School in Union City for several years during the 2000s. After working together and enjoying much success there as coaches, they served as the Debate and Speech Directors at a local tutoring center in Fremont, CA from 2011-2013, and in two short years turned its program focused on after school classes into arguably the largest and most competitive middle school program in the country.
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| Co-Founders (left to right) Steven Leal & Stephan Brooks at the 2014 National Middle School Tournament |
Just weeks after returning from the Middle School National Tournament with top honors for their middle school team, recognized as one of the Top 3 in the country, management at the tutoring center decided to terminate its speech and debate staff after attempting to negotiate a written work agreement. The two viewed the event as the absolute definition of a blessing in disguise, and founded The Brooks Academy as a means to continue coaching students interested in speech and debate from Fremont and its surrounding areas. For the first semester of the 2013-14 school year, The Brooks Academy offered free speech and debate classes and coaching to students of all ages interested in pursuing the activity. Along with their friends and colleagues, they coached students in Steven Leal's backyard and garage in Union City, just two miles from James Logan HS where all of their careers had began.
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| Brooks Academy students debating in Steven Leal's yard under tents and Christmas lights. |
Despite the change in scenery, the vast majority of the students that The Brooks Academy's staff had worked with in Fremont continued to compete with our program. And despite operating without the resources of an established center (power outages, overloaded internet routers, and leaky roofs were just some of the challenges we faced), those students, returning and new alike, worked just as hard and continued to enjoy tons of success, winning several local tournaments.
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| Our students, Michelle & Aman, at the 2014 Western JV/Novice Championship. |
In the Spring of 2014, The Brooks Academy returned to Fremont, CA, continued to offer classes, and once again grew into one of the most competitive programs in the country. In June of 2014, The Brooks Academy sent a team of over two students to the Middle School National Tournament, once again claimed the Overall School of Excellence Award as a Top 3 program in the country, and also captured first place national championship titles in three events: Public Forum Debate, Extemporaneous Speaking, and Impromptu Speaking. A year later, at 2015 NSDA National Middle School Tournament, our program's students had similar success. The Brooks Academy captured yet another Overall School of Excellence Award after its students collectively ranked 1st overall in the number of elimination rounds competed in by all schools in attendance. Brooks Academy students also took home 1st place national championship titles in: Original Oratory, Duo Interp, and Impromptu Speaking.
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| The Brooks Academy @ the 2014 Middle School National Tournament in Overland Park, KS |
After the 2014-15 competitive season, Stephan Brooks decided to scale down The Brooks Academy's operations, so that he could return to a more active role teaching students, as opposed to managing the day-to-day operations of such a large program. He still continues to coach privately, and for a few local K-12 school programs. Most of The Brooks Academy's other staff left to continue coaching at other local programs in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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| The Brooks Academy's elementary students learning Expository Speaking |
