Kudos News for June 2013 全國初中演講及辯論比賽KUDOS勇奪三大獎 ; 政策辯論冠軍、全面卓越學校獎、辯論卓越學校獎
June: A full year of work completed, leaving just one last task. A trip out of state, to compete against 95 schools from 29 states and 3 countries; a challenge unlike any other; an epic battle from which only the strongest and most prepared can possibly hope to emerge victorious; an event called:
The 2013 NJFL National Tournament!
This year’s competition was held in Birmingham Alabama and was, without any exaggeration, the most difficult middle school tournament in history. Large fields and brutal breaks meant a lot of very good entries would fail to advance. In such a cutthroat environment, how would our Kudosians fare?
But let’s rewind. Four days prior, our warriors packed their tubs and business formal clothes, and boarded a plane to Alabama.
We checked into the hotel and, after a long day of travel, everyone was happy to enjoy a delicious meal.
Before we knew it, the day of reckoning had arrived. The students had assembled and were ready to fill the vans and head to the site.
Until… Car Trouble! One of the vans wouldn’t start! Yes, many nerves were frayed Wednesday morning as the coaches scrambled to transport all the competitors in just one van. Two trips were made and, in the end, everyone made it rounds on time. Whew!
But even as dedicated a group as this found some time for frivolity:
Hold the phone everybody: breaking news on proposed peace talks with the Taliban! How will this impact the negotiated peace alternative we’re presenting on neg?!
After two long days of furious competition, prelims and early breaks rounds were finished.
Friday brought final rounds and awards.
First up were OO finals. Stanley Yu and Melinda Guo both made the cut to the top 6.
Of course, there was still the Policy finals to come, featuring Jerry and Kirk. Um… Tragically, we actually don’t have any pictures from that round. But that’s OK, because we have plenty of pictures of them at awards.
And speaking of awards, all the battles were fought, and the winners chosen, and it was time to gather in the theater.
In policy debate, Joey and Natalie earned awards as quarterfinalists, pictured below. Who knows how much further they could have gone, if poor bracket luck hadn’t reared its head.
In quarters, Joey and Natalie ended up hitting Jerry and Kirk. Teammates don’t debate against one another, so the higher seed – Jerry and Kirk – walked over the lower seed – Joey and Melinda. It’s standard procedure, but a really tough way to get knocked out, as it doesn’t entail actually losing an outround.
Also, Jerry and Kirk each won an award for finishing among the top ten speakers in policy.
Of course they had to come back to pick up those national champion trophies as well.
All told, 18 different Kudos students earned a total of 25 awards (counting a team award, policy for example, as a single award).
Thanks to all this student achievement, Wheeler got to get up on stage too, to receive two prestigious School of Excellence awards.
So anyhow, after everything was over, we had a last group pose with all the hardware:
Here is our complete results list:
School Awards:
Debate School of Excellence 2013 – Awarded to the top 6 of 93 schools in debate.
Overall School of Excellence 2013 – Awarded to the top 3 of 93 schools overall.
Individual/Team Awards:
Jerry Wang and Kirk Wu: National Champions – Policy Debate
Kirk Wu: Quarterfinalist – Extemp
Jerry Wang: Quarterfinalist – OO
Stanley Yu: 4th Place – OO
Melinda Guo: 6th Place – OO
Melinda Guo: Semifinalist – HI
Melinda Guo: Semifinalist – Declamation
Jenny Li and Jack Li: Double Octafinalist – Public Forum
Jenny Li: Quarterfinalist – OO
Jax Rounds and Alex Zhao: Quarterfinalist – Public Forum
Jax Rounds: Finalist – Congress
Alex Zhao: Finalist – Congress
Victor Qin: Partial doubles (top 24) – LD
Victor Qin: Finalist – Congress
Caty Szeto and Victor Luo: Double Octas – Public Forum
Angela Chen and Justin Chuang: Double Octas – Public Forum
Angela Chen: Quarterfinalist – Extemp
Justin Chuang: Semifinalist – Extemp
Joey Kiang and Natalie Wang: Quarterfinalist – Policy
Joey Kiang: Quarterfinalist – Extemp
N’Angela Chen and Nora Sharp: Octafinalist – Public Forum
Audrey Lam: Quarterfinalist – Extemp
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Mission accomplished, it was time to fly home: