Kristi and I had the honor of interviewing Jackson/Heady- the 2016 Duo Champions of NCFCA, shortly after their win. Kristi and I loved getting to know them more via SKYPE, and recorded our time together. But due to “technical difficulties” putting the video up for you all to view, wasn’t going to be an option. However, Jathan Jackson and Ashley had so many great things to say and lessons to be learned, I decided to transcribe it for you all!
Heather: Why don’t we start with introducing yourselves…
Jathan: My name is Jathan Jackson. I just graduated last year. I had been in Debate for two years, Speech for one (this year-2016!!). I did a Duo and a Biblical Presentation. That was my experience with Speech.
Ashley: My name is Ashley Heady and this was my fourth year competing in Speech and Debate. I’m going into my senior year. I’ve completed in three Duos- this was my third, Humorous, Biographical Narrative, Informative, and I also do Debate.
Heather: Where do you two live?
Jathan: We both live in really small towns in Indiana.
Ashley: We do have a blinking light.
Jathan: We do not.
Heather: How far apart are you to each other?
Ashley: About 45 minutes.
Heather: How long have you known each other?
Ashley: Two years…
Jathan: Two years…
Ashley: yes, almost three years…
Kristi: How did you two meet?
Jathan: I came in halfway through fall semester to club. We met at club.
Heather: How big is your club?
Ashley: Seven or eight families of Speech, only four in Debate. I think we took eleven competitors to Regionals.
Heather: What made you two decide you want to do a Duo?
Ashley: I had done Duo before, once with my sister, once with my Debate partner. At the same time that Jathan joined club. He also joined a choir I was in. Our choir director decided to try something different for the Spring Concert, she wanted to have a hosting position. She asked me to do it, and I thought, I could do it with Jathan. We were kind of the Guinea pigs of the project…
Jathan: A little rough at first, but it got better…
Ashley: Every time we worked together, it got better, and after the concert was over, I said, “bro- we need to do a Duo!” And he said, “that’s fine with me!” And that’s just how it happened.
Jathan: More of an accident than anything.
Heather: Awesome!
Kristi: I love that, because a lot of teams go out in search for that who can I find for a Duo partner. I love that there was something home grown about your partnership before you took that on. How did you two go about finding a piece?
Jathan: That was Ashley’s job.
Ashley: I’ve picked out Duo scripts two different ways… The first time was with my sister and I just looked up Adventures in Odyssey Duo Scripts, and that’s what we did. And the second Duo I went to the library to look for interesting titles, and we chose a book that way. This time I went to playscripts.com and looked for pieces. I found this one, and I was excited, I had seen it done once- it’s going to be fun, it’s going to make people laugh, there were characters I could see Jathan doing. I brought it to Jathan, he loved it! We start cutting it, and we are going along, and Mrs. Jackson sees it and she says, “there’s no point to this. It doesn’t mean anything.” And Jathan and I are like…
Jathan: Whatever…
Ashley: Alright, that’s fine, we will go find a new one!! So we were at club, and I was in the hallway looking at playscripts.com and Jathan was practicing and I found one about the Bible. Surely, Mrs. Jackson will like this one! I showed it to Jathan, and he was like, “yep- that’s our Duo.”
Jathan: It was pretty much a God thing.