Graduating senior Cody Herche has invested his college years into helping high school students develop argumentation, critical thinking and presenting skills through speech and debate. Herche, an Economics major and French studies minor, coaches high schoolers at debate camps around the country.

The son of a Native Alaskan and French immigrant, Herche grew up in a multi-cultural home where communication challenges were routine. He learned how to overcome cultural differences while not abandoning the pride of his heritage. “I always knew I wanted to speak and write clearly and that communication skills are important,” Herche says.

As a high school debater, Herche was a national title winner in two common debate formats, Team Policy and Lincoln-Douglas. He set a record at the World’s Parliamentary tournament that still stands with 296 out of a possible 300 speaker points. Since starting college, Herche has authored Keys to Extemp: Speaking from your heart with the knowledge in your head (Monument, 2008) -- a leading high school extemporaneous text -- and edits Gold Book: The current events sourcebook. Keys to Cross-Examination, a guide to debate cross-examination, is slated for summer publication.

At Pacific, Herche has volunteered for Judicial Affairs, rowed with the crew team, been a faithful and vocal member of the Orange Army and wrote as a humor columnist at The Pacifican under the pseudonym “Matt Brady.” Yes, Matt Brady was Herche. Herche’s article “L’espoir et la recherche de l’Eldorado” won top honors in the 2009 Jan Good contest for Original French Essay. Herche’s academic abilities have been honored with memberships in Omnicron Delta Epsilon (Economics) and Pi Delta Phi (French). He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa as a junior and will be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi on April 30th.

Herche has been accepted to law school at Cornell University in New York and plans to attend this fall. In his spare time, Herche enjoys playing basketball, reading non-fiction and hanging out with friends.

Published in : Lifestyles, Volume 101: Issue 31