Diamonds are forever and so is the impact that Sara Given has on her students at the Mexico High School.

Given was recently recognized by the National Speech and Debate Association with her second Diamond award. A coach needs to earn 15,000 points from competitions to be awarded a Diamond and receive points based on how their students perform. Students are awarded points for every competition based on ratings and a coach earns 1/10 of a point for each point a student earns. Mrs. Given now has over 30,000 points.

A (1) or exemplary rating which is 1st place is worth six points, as you can tell it takes a lot of points for a coach to earn a Diamond award.
Given has coached 509 students during her 24 years at the Mexico High School. She also has had three Academic All-Americans in National Speech and Debate Association including her son Riley Given, and students Brooke Ransom and Grant Norfleet.

Given says most points awarded to a speech coach come through debate. "We are not a debate heavy school. My goal was to get one diamond before retirement, so to achieve a second Diamond was pretty special. It means we have had a lot of hard-working students over the years."

Mrs. Given shared a fun fact stating the Mexico High School Speech and Debate program has had 12 National Qualifiers and has qualified for the MSHSAA State Tournament for 29 straight years.