SpeechGeek Postings

The eleventh annual National Middle School Forensics Tournament was held June 25-27, 2010 at Dowling Catholic High School and the Des Moines Public Schools, and co-sponsored by the International Debate Education Association (IDEA) and the National Junior Forensic League (NJFL). Attending the tournament were more than 450 students from 45 schools spanning 20 states, and the territory of Saipan. Those students constituted more than 600 entries across a dozen speech and debate events.

Earning School of Excellence awards for holistic squad performance were Sidney Lanier Middle School (Houston, TX), Northwest Junior High School (Coralville, IA) and Clay Middle School (Carmel, IN). Earning School of Excellence awards for performance in debate were Sidney Lanier Middle School, Capitol Debate (Woodstock, MD), Kugnus ACTS (Closter, NJ), The Harker School (San Jose, CA), and The Kincaid School (Houston, TX). Earning School of Excellence awards for performance in speech events were Sidney Lanier Middle School, Ockerman Middle School (Florence, KY), The Pike School (Andover, MA), Milton Academy (Milton, MA), and Rowan County MS (Morehead, KY).

Champion students in each of the events included:
Policy Debate: Devansh Srivastura and Michael Koo, Capitol Debate, MD
Congressional Debate: Peter Oathout, Sidney Lanier MS, TX
Lincoln Douglas Debate: Naomi Whitney-Hirschmann, St. Louis Park, MN
Public Forum (Co-Champions): Ardash Battu, Arjun Kumar, Claudia Tischler, Shilpa Yarlgadda, The Harker School, CA
Prose: Claire Russell, Milton Academy MS, MA
Poetry: Bridget Kim, Rowan County MS, KY
Humorous Interpretation: Scott Diekema, Northwest Junior HS, IA
Dramatic Interpretation: Caroline Ford, Sky Academy, KY
Impromptu: Sarah Muse, Milton Academy MS, MA
Extemporaneous Speaking: Gregory Ross, Sidney Lanier
Original Oratory: Caroline Ford, Sky Academy, KY
Duo Interpretation: Bobby Turnbough & Nicole Hickok, Raymore-Peculiar MS, MO
Declamation: Willow Curry, Sidney Lanier MS, TX

Click here for a full results packet. Next year’s tournament will be held in Dallas, Texas. Stay tuned for more information on dates and specific details.

The tournament received generous assistance from Brent Hinkle of The Joy of Tournaments registration and tab room management software.

The NJFL was founded by the National Forensic League in 1995 to extend speech and debate opportunities to students in grades 6-8. Upon enrollment at an NFL member high school, students can convert a fraction of junior merit points earned for speaking activities to high school points toward advanced levels of NFL membership. This creates a great feeder program for high schools, and motivation for students to participate more.

IDEA was established in 1999 to promote mutual understanding and democracy globally by supporting discussion and active citizenship locally. Central to IDEA’s values are tolerance, international cooperation, and freedom of expression. This tournament instills and nurtures in younger students an appreciation for divergent viewpoints and diverse cultures.

On some level, it’s way too early begin thinking about the 2011 NFL National Tournament.  After all, I haven’t even fully unpacked from the adventure in Kansas City!  That doesn’t mean several folks at the National Forensic League and elsewhere aren’t already making plans.

The 2011 National Forensic League National Tournament (Web site) and the 2011 National Junior Forensic League National Tournament (Web site) will be held in Dallas, TX in June of 2011.  By the great start in place, it looks like things are going to be a blast.  What’s particularly interesting is that the NFL and NJFL Tournament will run parallel for the first time.

NFL Nationals: June 13-18
NJFL Nationals: June 16-18

The competition for all events, as well as the awards, will take place at one venue: The Dallas Sheraton (www.sheratondallashotel.com)  Consider this concept for a moment: one venue.  If your mind is not yet blown, click past the jump for a video produced by the host committee.

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SpeechGeek Staff Report

This season, all eyes are on the fashion hubs of the world. Tokyo. Paris. New York. Kansas City. The city known for its smooth music and smoky barbecue is playing host to the most well-dressed group of people under the age of 18 in the nation this week. Nowhere is the couture more haute and the threads more avant-garde than in the rounds of Duo Interpretation. Great minds may think alike, but great performers dress to impress.

What is it about this event that makes dressing complimentary draw so many compliments? Perhaps it is the appearance of coordination and unity that inspires so many partners to color coordinate. Before competitors utter their first lines and the first ‘swish’ of shoes popping in character takes place, the first thing judges and audience members notice are the partners’ appearances. After spending nine months working on blocking and character development ensuring that every gesture and emotion is in sync, coordinating tournament attire adds the final touch of polish to the overall effect. Much in the same way that sports teams wear matching uniforms, complimentary Duo partner attire shows that both individuals are focused on creating a unified, seamless performance. The last thing anyone wants is for a judge to be distracted by your hot pink and olive green suits.

Click through the slide show to see a sampling of some of this week’s most colorful (and coordinated) Duo partners.

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Welcome to SpeechGeek’s LIVE Coverage of the 2010 NFL National Tournament Awards Ceremony.  We’ve been in Kansas City all week sharing with you the excitement that comes with the annual event.  We’ll post all individual events finalists and their rank as it happens.

Keep reading to access the final results.

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The first-ever finalists in Supplemental Debate beat out over 500 other competitors to take the final stage.

After several rounds, the original field of 210 competitors is down to six finalists for the 2010 installment of Supplemental Extemp Commentary. We’ll have live coverage as it happens.  The round is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. CDT.

Blogging the Supplemental Events may prove a bit more tricky than the Main Events, as information has been a bit more hard to come by.  We apologize for any misspellings of names and welcome corrections from our readers.

Topic Area: The United States of Anger and Demonization

Speaker 1 — Louis Lee
Topic: “Demagogues unite.  Democracy needs you.”
Talk show hosts have a substantial effect on discourse in America.  Democracy needs unity among the groups.
1.  They deter Americans from participating in the political process.
2.  They convey information to Americans, albeit in a biased way.  They are useful as a means to share information.

Speaker 2 — Eli Bernstein
Topic: “Just say no.  Always, no.”
Debate has come to an end.  Taking away the power of debate diminishes the power of the USA.
1.  How Republicans have transitioned further to the during Obama Administration.  Shouting down the opposition and the filibuster are the key tools for accomplishing their “no.”
2.  How this affects Average Joe voters by turning them off from voting.  Americans are quickly losing trust in both political parties.

Speaker 3 — Rohan Pi
Topic:  ”Don’t tax me, Bro.”
Ultimately, we have to acknowledge that taxes are the down-payments we make for an advanced society. The lifestyle we enjoy is not possible without taxes.
1.  They maintain the goods, services and entitlements we enjoy as a society.
2.  We are in debt to the idea of prosperity by utilizing increased taxes to bring down the deficit and provide a better future.  This can be accomplished through reduced spending and higher taxes.

Speaker 4 — Nathaniel Hass
Topic: “Glenn and Rush: Ranting all the way to the bank.”
There are voices that are willing to make offensive, harmful arguments in public that are based on cultural stereotypes.
1.  What these people say, which is just plain wrong.
2.  Why are there people who say this, and who in the world is employing them?
3.  These people are paid to say such racist, terrible and untrue things.

Speaker 5 — Davis Mattick
Topic: “Nattering Nebobs (sp?) of Negativism”
We’ve become a negative culture.  (As negative as Harry Potter in the fifth novel.)  Giving up on an idea before it’s given time is unfair.
1.  Americans, in general, have a fatalistic attitude.
2.  We’ve given up on the future; however, there’s no reason to maintain that negativity.

Speaker 6 — Trevor Griffin
Topic: “Internet Flamethrowers”
We forget that what we do on the internet and social networking websites is a metaphorical flame-thrower that can have serious ramifications.
1.  Social such as Facebook and other social media.
2.  The political napalm thrown via the traditional media (FOX, NBC, etc.)
3.  Solutions for political and social flame-throwing and their extremities.

Watch the final rounds of the NFL National Tournament LIVE at SpeechGeek Postings via the video player below.

Were you busy watching the World Cup or the NBA Finals last night and missed out on the interp final rounds at the 2010 NFL National Tournament?  No need to worry, as the NFL LiveStream channel allows you to go back and watch the full festivities.  I wouldn’t expect them to be up forever.  If you don’t want to wait for your team’s DVD to arrive this fall, you may want to go ahead and check them out.

After several rounds, the original field of 281 competitors is down to six finalists for the 2010 installment of Supplemental Poetry Interpretation. We’ll have live coverage as it happens.  The round is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. CDT.

Blogging the Supplemental Events may prove a bit more tricky than the Main Events, as information has been a bit more hard to come by.  We apologize for any misspellings of names and welcome corrections from our readers.

Speaker 1 —  A. J. Tallow
performing “Being that Guy” a program by Tony Damico

Speaker 2 — Malcom Minor
performing “Knock, Knock” by Daniel Beaty

Speaker 3 — James Videl
performing “The Butter Battle”  by Theodor (Dr. Seuss) Geisel

Speaker 4 — Durrell Jamerson
performing “Fallen Heroes” a program by Will Bell and (unknown).

Speaker 5 — Taylor Walker
performing “Somewhere There is a Poem” by Gina Loring

Speaker 6 — Andrea Platt
performing  ”My Thick Heritage” by Barry Solas (sp?)

After eight rounds, the original field of 334 competitors is down to six finalists for the 2010 installment of Supplemental Prose Interpretation. We’ll have live coverage as it happens.  The round is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. CDT.

Blogging the Supplemental Events may prove a bit more tricky than the Main Events, as information has been a bit more hard to come by.  We apologize for any misspellings of names and welcome corrections from our readers.

Speaker 1 — Michael Mosella
performing “Commercial Break” by Augustin Burrows

Speaker 2 — Zachary Eisenstein
performing “Rest Area” by Clay Chapman

Speaker 3 — John Reynolds
performing  ”Under the Wolf, Under the Dog” by Adam Rapp

Speaker 4 — Johari Mackey
performing “Show Business” by Martha Southgate

Speaker 5 — Robert Jackson
performing “I, Dred Scott” by Sheila Moses

Speaker 6 — Nat Zegree
performing  ”The Santaland Diaries” by David Sedaris

The original field of  226 competitors is down to six finalists for the 2010 installment of Original Oratory. We’ll have live coverage as it happens.  The round is scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. CDT.

SpeechGeek Postings is proud to announce the final placing of the national semifinalists in Original Oratory. You can also check out the speeches performed by the finalists and their speaker order.

National Finalists

Speaker 1 — Vinay Nayak
delivering the oration “A Sensitive Kind of Guy”
topic overview: problems, causes and solutions related to a lack of racial sensitivity (racial stereotyping) in American culture

Speaker 2 — Joe Nelson
delivering the oration “Do Over”
topic overview: definitions of “do over,” why they are ungraceful and solutions to our hesitation to admit mistakes and make a second attempt

Speaker 3 — Miles Bridges
delivering the oration “Klina Khumsen” (sp? German phrase meaning  ”No Crumbs”)
topic overview:  how leaders of the nation fail to finish the people’s business, how individuals fail to recognize unfinished business, how we can profit from finishing what we start

Speaker 4 — Alphonce Mshomba
delivering the oration “Can You Hear Me Now?”
topic overview: how we turn the mute button on life by not listening to others

Speaker 5 — Chris Moncrief
delivering the oration “Roll with Me”
topic overview:  social role playing and the parts we take on each day; what we do when the role for us hasn’t been written and what we can do to find or create just our role

Speaker 6 — Amy Shackleford
delivering the oration “Stuck in a Moment”
topic overview: moments where we feel we are stuck and fixating on the past; getting stuck by replaying the past, getting stuck by repeating past mistakes, and solutions

National Semifinalists

7.  Nicholas Gilyard
8.  Taylor Misiak
9.  Caroline Anne Kitchener
10.  Ola Abiose
11.  Haben Ghebregergish
12.  Kurt Alberson
13.  Brian A Castelloe
14.  Nina Desarro