Easton earns First Diamond Award

Long-time Marianas High School teacher Harold Easton joined other weathered National Speech and Debate Association coaches in accepting the prestigious First Diamond Award. Easton received the award at the recent national speech and debate competition in Overland Park, Kansas, where he accompanied dozens of students from the CNMI who participated in the annual speech competition.

Harold Easton

According to National Speech and Debate Association officials, the First Diamond Award recognizes a professional career that encompasses excellence and longevity. The league provides the award to a coach who attains 1,500 points. The points come from one-tenth of the points procured by the coach’s students over the years. 

Humbled by the award, Easton said it is not an acknowledgment of himself but of his students.

“This demonstrates a lot of hard work of the students from Marianas High School who have been doing speech events,” he said. “I continue to coach speech and debate because it is worthwhile, it is just that simple. It also gives students focus on public speaking and is an important part of their education.”

This is the first time for a speech coach from the CNMI to receive the award. 

Easton currently serves as the program coordinator and board chair for the high school, junior high school, and grade school forensic leagues. He has been involved in the league for over a decade now. 

When he is not spending late nights preparing lesson plans for the classes he teaches, he can be seen working long hours on campus with students as Thespians troupe director, Glee Club adviser, and Chorale Singing Club adviser. Easton also sits on the board of directors of the Friends of the Arts program and teaches business, drama, speech, and show choir at MHS, Saipan’s oldest and largest school.

Mount Carmel School speech coach Filmah Buenaflor said, “Mr. Easton is truly the core of speech competitions on Saipan. He will always be appreciated by the students and coaches.”

Although Easton is seen as the face of the forensic league on island, a great majority of his students said he is also the heart of the entire forensic league family. 

Katrina Punzalan, a veteran forensic league competitor and Saipan Southern High School student, described Easton as “motivating, encouraging, and a great coach.”

“He definitely deserves the award,” she told Saipan Tribune.

MHS student Masrur Alam expressed similar sentiments. “Mr. Easton is the most hardworking teacher in my school and shows us that he is passionate about what he does. He helps everyone without complaint.”

Fellow Marianas High School coach Dencio V. Manglona said he remembers the first time Easton greeted him with an echoing voice when he was a competitor for the Declaration speech competition in junior high school.

“Since that time I’ve had the honor to witness him continue his work tirelessly throughout the years, outpacing the coaches and students that learned, experienced, and grew as his students at MHS and through his various involvements in the community,” he said. 

Easton now joins a pool of other decorated coaches who have dedicated a large amount of their time and energy to molding students in speech and debate.