Kudos’ Middle School Team recently visited Cal State Long Beach to compete at the 30th annual Jack Howe Memorial. The team sent seven students, with six competing in congress. Freshman Ethan Li participated in Public Forum for the first time and placed in the top 20% for speaker points, securing 6th best speaker in his category. He and his novice partner were one win away from a winning record, marking a strong debut for Ethan.

In the congress event, Kudos had notable successes. Edwin Jiao earned rankings on multiple ballots in his first high school competition, while Anne Liu placed 7th in her chamber. Evelyn Lam, despite a strong performance, narrowly missed breaking into outrounds, but was ranked 1st by her parliamentarian.

Three Kudos students advanced to outrounds: Freshman Audrey Huang, and Juniors Claire Wen and Zach Chang. Claire ranked 8th in prelims, while Audrey was the highest-placing freshman. Zach and Claire finaled for the second consecutive tournament, earning their second TOC bids. They are now fully qualified for the Tournament of Champions, a distinction achieved by only ten students across the country before October 1st. As of today, Kudos is one of only two programs nationwide with multiple students fully qualified for the TOC in Congress. GO KUDOS GO!