Being the first person in his immediate family to attend college seemed daunting to Wade Hescht. In 1994 Hescht was a student at Lone Star College-North Harris; now Hescht is a professor of speech and chairperson for speech and drama at the same college he once attended. In addition to his success as a professor at LSC-North Harris, Hescht is now recognized as one of the leading forensics coaches in the state of Texas.

For his demonstrated excellence in all areas of faculty responsibility, Professor Hescht has been named the recipient of the Texas Speech Communication Association’s Community College Educator (TSCA) of the Year. The award is given annually to a distinguished speech communication educator of notable professional contributions. According to the Texas Speech Communication Association, “the organization is the largest state professional communication association in the nation. It consists of educators from middle school through University level in the fields of speech and theater, administrators from all levels and professionals from corporate America.”  TSCA presented Hescht with his award at an honors reception held on Oct. 9, 2009, in Dallas, Texas.

When asked about how he felt about being nominated, Hescht was understandably honored by the recognition but remained focused on the students he works with.

 “Just teaching would be enough but it is good to be recognized for my work with the students,” Hescht said. “That’s what I really love; to see them when it clicks”.

According to Hescht, sometime his students are a little apprehensive about competing. “But our team competes with some of the top colleges and universities in the nation. To watch our students grow in realizing that they are just as good anyone else is why I do this,” he said.

“We are truly lucky to work with an instructor with so much skill and dedication,” said Gary Liebst, dean of LSC-North Harris Fine Arts. “As the school’s only forensics coach, Wade has single handedly produced award-winning students and teams through a combination of hard work, skill, and determination. His program is recognized as one of the elite success stories on a large campus with many strong programs. He does most of this work after hours when his department chair responsibilities can be curtailed for a period of time. Sometimes we realize we are working with an individual who possesses special skills and I would count Wade one of those people. Wade is an excellent instructor who excels at motivating his forensics students to compete at a consistently high level and is a very demanding forensics coach who works well with students off all talent levels. Many of his team members are first-generation-in-college students and in spite of receiving new students with limited competition experience who are new to the college environment, he continues to produce award winning teams. I think this ability to repeatedly start from scratch makes Wade’s consistent success at speech competitions remarkable.” 

For more information about LSC-North Harris forensics program, call 281.618.5641.

Lone Star College-North Harris is located at 2700 W.W. Thorne Drive, one-half mile south of FM 1960 E, between Aldine-Westfield and Hardy Roads. For more information about the college, call 281.618.5400 or visit: NorthHarris.LoneStar.edu.

Lone Star College System consists of five colleges including LSC-CyFair, LSC-Kingwood, LSC-Montgomery, LSC-North Harris, and LSC-Tomball, six centers, LSC-University Center, LSC-University Park, Lone Star Corporate College, and LSC-Online. With more than 58,000 students in credit classes this fall, LSCS is the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area and third largest community college system in Texas. To learn more visit LoneStar.edu.

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