Ethan James Rapoza

I miss you Ethan. I still think of him everyday, and the world got noticeably a little darker since his light went out. City pool isn´t the same without you there each day to keep me company.

When Ethan joined the Desert Hills debate team his senior year, I knew he was a student with potential. I had seen him debate in my Language Arts class the previous year, and he was among very few of his peers to give a flawless performance. Our Language Arts class was 1st hour, a sleepy time for most teenagers, but during the debate round, Ethan really sparked. Luckily, he was inspired enough to join the team.

Initially, I wondered if he might be another one of those seniors taking debate as an easy English credit. He and his debate partner Parker Boyce had talked to me before signing up for the class about possible conflicting schedules with their wrestling season, but I had seen Ethan debate and knew we wanted him on the team for as much time as he could give us, so I assured them we could make it work.

Our first tournamentof the year is arguably the most difficult - Beehive Battles - where dozens of schools from throughout the U.S. compete at the University of Utah. It was Ethan and Parker's first debate tournament and they were entered in the novice division. They went undefeated in their 5 preliminary rounds. They advanced to quarter finals and won, then advanced to semi-finals where they placed 2nd overall!

Ethan quickly rose into a leadership role where he was routinely leading the other debaters in practice sessions and mentoring and modeling for his peers. While he was only able to compete in a handful of tournaments because of wrestling season, he and Parker placed 2nd overall at the region tournament.

When our debate class moved online, Ethan continued to stay active, calling in to participate in our online spar debates. Often he and his friends would coordinate ahead and show up to our online debates in "costume", painting on beards, wearing funny hats and goggles. They kept us entertaining during a difficult time.

Ethan was an invaluable member of our team, and I'm so grateful for the time I got to work with him and know him. All my love goes out to Ethan, his family and friends.