During the 2012-2013 school year I taught English in Bulgaria as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA). The Fulbright program, run by the US Department of State, is the largest and most prestigious cultural exchange program.
Over the course of the year as a Fulbright ETA, I taught grades 8-12 at the Yoan Exark Foreign Language High School. Through my teaching, I found that I loved working in the classroom setting. However, I found that the Bulgarian educational system favored breadth over depth meaning that there were few opportunities to express themselves and practice critical thinking.
I started talking with other Fulbright ETAs in Bulgaria to discuss how we could create an opportunity for our students to both practice English and apply critical thinking skills. As a result, I got together with six other Fulbrighters to host a speech and debate tournament. Our first tournament had about 100 students from across Bulgaria. The tournament was a success and we found that speech and debate could be an avenue for teaching critical thinking. That single tournament has morphed into a non-profit called the BEST Foundation with two paid staff and multiple volunteer staff. I served on the board of the BEST Foundation from 2013-2021.
