Kay Rollins
The Potomac School
When Kay Rollins was around 8 years old, she wanted a dog. Her older brother wanted fish.
Their father, who was on debate teams in high school and college, had them hash it out, debate-style, to choose the family pet. Little did her brother know he was debating the future top-ranking extemporaneous speaker in the country, and the first student in Tournament of Champions history to claim that title twice. (She would later break her own record when she won it for the third time this year.)
“We got two dogs,” Rollins says, looking back on the pet dispute, “so I felt good about that. I ended up joining the debate team when I was in eighth grade, and it exceeded every expectation I could have had.”
While debate practice and tournaments took up a good chunk of her extracurricular time in high school, the McLean teen also put a lot of energy toward suicide prevention work—a cause that comes from a very personal place after she lost a friend to suicide during her sophomore year. “I ended up first just starting off at my school,” she says. “I did a fundraiser for the national suicide hotline, because those are so underfunded.”
The effort raised just under $1,000. Rollins also became involved with a local chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, helping with its annual Out of the Darkness community walk, and crafted an original oratory for debate about mental health last year. “The focus of it was to encourage people to talk and get help,” says the 18-year-old, noting that people who talk about their struggles are less likely to end their lives.
In addition, Rollins wrote for her school paper, builds electric bikes and judges middle school debates. She racked up enough academic accolades to gain acceptance to Harvard, where she plans to study foreign relations or public policymaking.
She counts her parents, her brother and her debate coaches among her biggest inspirations and hopes her mentorship of young debaters has a similar motivating effect on others.
“I think everyone has the potential to be someone else’s inspiration,” she says, “even if it’s only for a really little thing.” –Rina Rapuano