Terek Rutherford
Activity Participant
Drama, Debate and Forensics
South Anchorage High School
In 2015, during his senior year at South Anchorage High, Terek Rutherford was named a National Speech & Debate Association All American. To date, he’s the lone Alaskan to receive such lofty Drama, Debate & Forensics status.
“Terek is undoubtedly the most-decorated (DDF) competitor in Alaska history,” said Shawn Briscoe, Assistant Director of the University of Alaska Anchorage debate program and Rutherford’s coach “Each year, more than 130,000 students compete in the (national competition). Of those, only 25 receive All-America honors.”
Rutherford lettered in DDF all four years at South and also earned letter in tennis. He helped lead the Wolverines to two state championships and grabbed five individual titles. He was the top speaker in Policy & Debate for three consecutive years (2013, 2014 and 2015) and holds the record for number of first-place rankings in speech (Forensics) with 86.
Nationally, he was also honored as the 12th speaker in the nation for policy debate in 2015.
“Terek applied the values of understanding different perspectives, maintained the highest levels of integrity and achieved self-improvement by helping others in every endeavor he’s taken.”
Rutherford later graduated from the University of Southern California and today works as an associate with the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation in Juneau.