LAMS Hawktalkers Coach Sherri Bublitz (center) was honored as the 2025 Speech Coach of the Year by the New Mexico Speech and Debate Association (NMSDA). MargoBatha, coach of the Los Alamos High School Hilltalkers Speech & Debate (right) nominated her for this award. Two of Mrs. Bublitz’ former students, Donald Poston and Brandi Weiss, presented her with the award. Photo Courtesy LAPS
LAPS NEWS RELEASE
Los Alamos Middle School and Hawktalkers Speech and Debate Team Coach Sherri Bublitz was honored as the 2025 Speech Coach of the Year by the New Mexico Speech and Debate Association (NMSDA). She was nominated for this award by Elise Matton, the Director of AA Speech & Debate, and Margo Batha, coach of the Los Alamos High School Hilltalkers Speech & Debate Team.
Mrs. Bublitz was presented with her award by Hilltalkers coach Donald Poston, one of her first Speech & Debate students, and Brandi Weiss, also a former student. She received the award for her “exemplary dedication and service to the New Mexico Speech community.”
Nominees are voted on by the entire body of coaches who are part of the NMSDA. “It is such an honor to be recognized by my peers,” said Mrs. Bublitz. She was recognized by the LAPS School Board during a recent meeting.
“Sherri Bublitz has spent a career developing high-quality, instructionally and pedagogically sound resources for coaching Speech to improve teachers’ and coaches’ ability to connect the unique qualities of Speech & Debate with common and important English Language Arts instruction,” Ms. Matton stated in her nomination. “By the State tournament each year, we work to celebrate the students who have achieved relatively high standards of success in their careers, but it can be easy to forget that every student (and coach!) begins as a true ‘novice.’ Sherri is an instrumental part of how all “novices” in our community — and even the National
Speech & Debate community — work to hone their craft early in their careers, a time when newbies are especially vulnerable and in need of warm and caring guidance. Sherri has provided exactly that level of support.”
In her nomination letter, Mrs. Batha said, “As the coach of the Los Alamos Middle School Hawktalkers Speech and Debate team for the past fourteen years, Sherri has built an acclaimed middle school program that serves as a model for middle school programs throughout the state. Her Hawktalkers have won numerous awards as middle school students and many of them have gone on to be nationally recognized speakers and debaters at the high school level. Her middle school program is the cornerstone of the success that the Los Alamos High School Hilltalkers have enjoyed for the past 14 years. As a coach, Sherri gives her middle school students a solid foundation in both Speech and Debate skills. Sherri’s goal for her students is for each and every one of them to use their voices for good.”
She concluded her nomination by saying, “Sherri Bublitz is one of the unsung heroes of our New Mexico Speech and Debate community. She is a gifted coach whose students cherish the memories of the time they spent as Hawktalkers, and she has been a rock to our community. The achievements of her students in all areas more than speak for themselves.”
Photo caption: LAMS Hawktalkers Coach Sherri Bublitz (center) was honored as the 2025
Speech Coach of the Year by the New Mexico Speech and Debate Association (NMSDA). Margo
Batha, coach of the Los Alamos High School Hilltalkers Speech & Debate (right) nominated her
for this award. Two of Mrs. Bublitz’ former students, Donald Poston and Brandi Weiss,
presented her with the award.