Cecil Fish Memorial/Fish Family Scholarship

The Fish family connection to Northwest College Forensics began in the fall of 1971, when Duane and Virginia arrived on campus as students and met while competing on the speech and debate team.
Duane joined the Northwest College faculty in 1976, and began coaching the Forensics Team soon after. From the beginning, Virginia participated as adjunct faculty and/or volunteer forensics coach before joining NWC’s full-time staff in 1987. As students, Duane and Virginia had won numerous regional and national awards for their NWC team, laying the groundwork for a legacy of success. Together they positively shaped students to carry on their winning tradition, amassing hundreds of students awards and dozens of national team sweepstakes.
Following the death of Cecil Fish, Duane’s father, the Fish family created a scholarship endowment with funds from the generous outpouring of support from Duane and Virginia’s former students and the community.
During Duane’s 39 years of coaching, NWC reached the top 10 debate schools in the nation – a ranking NWC held in 3 debate categories through 2015. As leaders, Duane and Virginia enhanced NWC forensics by introducing computerized tournament administration and shared this expertise with other colleges. Duane served for many years as tournament director for the Phi Rho Pi national and Wyoming high school tournaments. In 2014, Duane and Virginia were inducted into the Wyoming Debate Hall of Fame.
Upon Duane’s retirement from Northwest, former team members coached by the Fishes also raised money to name the Forensics Team squad room in honor of his passion for helping students succeed… and for these memories:
Hard work and hard play. Sweater vests. Corny jokes.
Late nights, early mornings and retreats.
Cinnamon rolls. Squirrel cases. Long drives.
And lots of good friends!