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Season Kick-off Meetings!

Welcome back to the school year! The coaches and student officers are excited to welcome everyone back to the competitive season with two upcoming kick-off meetings coming up soon. Both meetings will begin in room 164 after school.

  • Tuesday, September 26 is our special meeting for all returning members. Any team member grades 10-12 who was on the team last year is invited to attend. We’ll be discussing the new season, giving out important information and schedules, setting goals for the year, and training to help welcome our new members at the next meeting
  • Thursday, September 28 is our official season kick-off meeting for all new and returning members. We invite everyone to come and check out our team, meet the coaches and student officers, find out what speech and debate is and why it’s worth your time, and learn about our different events. Bring a friend or two, and enjoy our first meeting of the year!

Please also join our team mailing list if you are a new member. The link to the mailing list can be found here.

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Yale Results

Congratulations to the following team members who competed at the Yale Invitational this weekend and advanced to elimination rounds!

  • Lauren Spencer – Quarterfinalist, Dramatic Interpretation
  • Kathryn Altman – Quarterfinalist, Humorous Interpretation
  • Nicole Nissel & Briana Nissel – Semifinalists, Duo Interpretation
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Yale Invitational Signups

Any team member interested in signing up for the Yale Invitational (9/15-9/17) should sign up here. All new and returning team members are welcome to sign up, but since we only have so much bus space, veteran team members will receive preference over new ones if necessary. Sign up before 8/1 to ensure your best chance of registration!

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NSDA Nationals Results

Please congratulate our two students who competed this week at the NSDA National Tournament in Birmingham, AL, Shefali Das (INF) and Lauren Spencer (DI).Lauren placed in the top 120 in the nation in her supplemental event of Prose Interpretation.

Shefali placed in the top 60 in the nation in her main event of Informative Speaking, and placed in the top 20 in the nation in her supplemental event of Poetry Interpretation.

Congratulations!

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NCFL Results

Please congratulate our two students who competed this weekend at the NCFL Grand National Tournament in Louisville, KY, Claudia Pietrus (OO) and Caitlyn Dempsey (OI). Special congratulations to Caitlyn for breaking to octafinals in Oral Interpretation, placing in the top 50 nationally!

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2017-18 Officers

Congratulations to our new officers for the 2017-18 school year:

Co-Presidents  Bryn Bennett & Renee Shen
Vice-President of Speech  Caitlyn Dempsey
Vice-President of Debate  Brandon Luong
Vice-President of Communications  Allie Wu
Captain of Interpretation  Kathryn Altman
Captain of LPPAC  Claudia Pietrus
Captain of Public Forum  Julia Yan
Captain of Lincoln Douglas  Simran Kakkar
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Election Slate

The election slate is posted here:

2017-18 Speech & Debate Election Slate 

Please read each candidate’s statement before choosing which to vote for.

We are very pleased with the number of team members who decided to run for officer positions. However, due to the unexpected number of candidates, we will be reserving the candidates’ forum for executive positions (president, speech VP, debate VP, comms VP). The forum for all captain positions will take place online on the team Facebook page.

Notes about voting: 

  • Certain positions can only be voted on by team members of a certain constituency. For example, an interp team member can vote for president, speech VP, comms VP, and interp captain. They cannot vote for debate-specific positions.
  • If a team member has competed in multiple events at least twice this year, they may vote in both constituencies.
  • Finally, Congress team members may vote for all executive positions and LPPAC captain.

See you at the candidates’ forum, Thursday at lunch in B164.

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2017-18 Officer Elections

Just a friendly reminder that we are still accepting submissions for officer positions. See below for more information, dates, deadlines, and what positions are available.

Positions Available

  • President
  • Vice-President of Speech
  • Vice-President of Debate
  • Vice-President of Communications
  • Captain of Interpretation
  • NEW – Captain of Limited Prep, Public Address, and Congress (LPPAC)
  • Captain of Lincoln Douglas Debate
  • Captain of Public Forum Debate

Dates & Deadlines

  • April 3 at 2:45pm – Deadline for submissions, including BOTH emailed statements and hard copies of officer agreements
  • April 6 at 10:40am (lunch) – Candidates’ forum for questions
  • April 6-7 – Online voting open until 11:45am 4/7 (link posted on main page)
  • April 7 at noon – Results posted on main page

Election Information

2017 Speech & Debate Elections Packet

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Districts & National Tournament Qualifiers

Here are the results for our last regular tournament of the 2016-17 season!

New Jersey District Qualifying Tournament:

  • Sam Halpern – Semifinalist in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
  • Caitlyn Dempsey – Semifinalist in Program Oral Interpretation & Dramatic Interpretation
  • Bryn Bennett – 2nd alternate in Humorous Interpretation
  • Lauren Spencer – Qualifier in Dramatic Interpretation
  • Shefali Das – 1st alternate in Original Oratory, qualifier in Informative Speaking

This means that we have FOUR students who have qualified in their events to a national championship tournament, and THREE who are alternates to those tournaments! Please congratulate the following students on their qualification, and wish them luck at the end of this school year:

2017 NCFL Grand Nationals (Louisville, KY):

  • Caitlyn Dempsey (OI)
  • Claudia Pietrus (OO)
  • Jordan Pontelandolfo (1st alternate, OI)

2017 NSDA Nationals (Birmingham, AL):

  • Shefali Das (INF & 1st alternate, OO)
  • Lauren Spencer (DI)
  • Bryn Bennett (2nd alternate, HI)

What an end to our season! Well done all.