Spencer Jarvis

My name is Spencer Jarvis. After a VERY short stint in the MHS Debate Club (I graduated 2 years early) I went on to self-educate in the field of cyber security. I am well beyond where I’ve ever imagined I could be at my current age, and I owe a lot of this to the MHS Debate Club. Even if you don’t want to become a lawyer or other legal professional, the speech and debate club is a great way to become well spoken, refine “argumentative” skills, which are used every single day in a corporate environment, and forge long-lasting friendships with people who are most certainly good influences in both your personal and professional life. If I didn’t have the argumentative skills that I refined in the MHS Debate Club, I wouldn’t be able to articulate cyber risks to clients, I wouldn’t be able to justify funding for the IT department of clients, and I wouldn’t be able to converse with my sister, Felicia Jarvis, who went to nationals more times than I remember. Really, she loves to argue.

I am currently a Vulnerability Management Lead operating as a Chief Information Security Officer for a cyber-security consultancy. I work in heavily regulated environments daily, around critical U.S and foreign infrastructure, and as an informal note, having a background in speech and debate makes federal regulations much easier to read, and conversations with the DEA/FDA/Auditors much more palatable.

I never wanted to go to college, and I wouldn’t fault you, the reader for not wanting to either. However, I would STRONGLY suggest to anyone that even took the time to read this that may be thinking about giving speech and debate a shot, to just do it. You will never regret the experience of your first debate tournament, but there’s a good chance you will always regret not getting the invaluable experience this club can give you while you’re early in your professional career, or even if you haven’t started it yet.

I would consider myself a very successful 26 year old, and I owe a lot of my ability and success to the program Coach K runs at Moore High School.

Thanks for reading my word vomit, if you did.