02/09/2026
Saying goodbye to the former SECRETARY 🌿
When I first joined Cicero in 2022, I had absolutely no idea that it and debating in general was about to take over my life, fully and completely, for the next four years.
Since then, I’ve somehow managed to serve on the Cicero board in every position except Treasurer (perhaps the greatest act of financial responsibility I have ever demonstrated), and even had the strange experience of sitting with Cicero’s board from the other side, as part of the national board.
It has been the best of times, the worst of times, and occasionally the “why am I still discussing this at 2 a.m.?” of times. There have been speeches, OAs, meetings, arguments, friendships, crises that felt like the end of the world, and probably far too many moments in which a student debating association circuit was treated with the geopolitical significance of a small nation-state.
And through all of it, I cared. Deeply, ridiculously, sometimes disproportionately.
I suppose there is no better evidence of that than the fact that, as a teenager, I permanently tattooed the Cicero logo onto my body, a decision that means that long after the motions, meetings, board drama and institutional lore have faded from memory, I will still be walking around with a tiny monument to the fact that, for a few years of my life, I cared about this association more than almost anything else in the world.
Whether that is deeply sad or incredibly cool, I have decided to leave to future Natalia.
But I wouldn’t trade it. Cicero gave me some of the best people, funniest stories, biggest headaches, and most formative years of my life.
So thank you for letting me care this much. Thank you for letting me be part of it. And thank you for giving teenage me something worth getting permanently inked onto my skin.
It’s been a privilege, a disaster, and an absolute joy. 💚🌿
