Hello Kudos family!

Kudos found great success this weekend at the SCJFL Tournament 3 across three debate events.

In Congress Edwin Jiao placed 14th, Annie Zhao placed 13th, John Dong placed 10th, Michelle Pan placed 7th, Ethan Li placed 6th, Sanjana Chanumalla placed 5th, Audrey Huang placed 4th, and Haylee Fung placed 1st!

In Lincoln-Douglas speaker awards: Yuna Wu took 8th place, Arvin Xia took 6th place, William Lin took 5th place, Michelle Zhang took 4th place, Joyce Zhang took 3rd place, and Kaden Wong took first place!

For overall Lincoln-Douglas placements: Harry Chen took 6th place, Joyce Zhang took 5th place, Claire Chen took 3rd place, and Kaden Wong placed 1st!

In Public Forum speaker awards: Steven Wang placed 10th, Emma Chen placed 9th, Claire Xuan placed 8th, Howard Ying placed 7th, Melissa Yu placed 5th, and Evans Chen placed 1st!

For overall Public Forum placements: Kathleen Chen and Madeline Wong placed 7th and Eugene Dai and Steven Wang placed 4th!

Thank you to all students for your hard work and to all parents for your continued support!

On 3/10/2023 Friday afternoon, Kudos Middle School Level 2 students from San Marino, Walnut and Irvine campuses and Kudos Speech team contestants particiated in SCJFL 4th Speech tournament.

For all Middle school level 2 students, this was their first time attended any speech tournament, however, it was the 4th speech tournament for speech team members!

After 5 hours, 3 solid rounds, we had the final list who advanced to the final round ~

The results are:

Open Impromptu:
5th place: Betty Chen – Speech team
13th place: Kaylee Lu – Speech team
15th place: Brandon Xu – Irvine level 2 student

Open Spar:
6th place: Angela Unayan – Walnut level 2 student
12th place: Rebecca Ho – San Marino level 2 student

Congrats to all the students who were awarded and lets aim high for the next one.

Hello Kudos family!
During the weekend of February 11th-13th Kudos participated in one of the largest Middle School and High School speech and debate tournaments in the country, the 37th Annual Stanford Speech and Debate invitational. We competed across multiple formats in both speech and debate. The tournament featured students from around the United States as well as numerous other places around the world, such as China, Taiwan, Canada, Singapore, India, and Australia. Held online, this tournament saw students from grades 6-12 competing across multiple skill levels. We would like to highlight success across three debate formats.

In Middle School Lincoln Douglas Debate Michelle Zhang advanced to the Octo Finals (Top 16) then onto quarter finals (Top 8) out of 55 entries. She also received 2nd place overall speaker award! Very well done.

In Middle School Public Forum Debate, Kathleen Chen and Madeline Wong advanced through the Triple Octo finals (top 50), to the double Octo finals (top 32), and into the Octo finals (Top 16) out of 170 entry teams (340 contestants)! In the overall speaker award, Steven Wang won the 40 th place, Madeline Wong the 43 rd place, and Kathleen Chen the 62 nd place. Impressive results from their hard work and dedication.

Finally, in Middle School Congress, there were a total of 52 entries. Among the 12 finalists, Kudos contestants won 6 trophies! Michelle Pan placed 2nd overall, Audrey Huang Placed 5 th , Zoey Luc placed 6th overall, Hayley placed 8 th , Sanjana Chanumalla 10 th and Ethan Li placed 11 th . Very well done!

This was a long, multi-day tournament that featured the best competition from across the country and beyond. Many of our other debaters were as close as one win away from making the extremely competitive breaks, we are very proud of all those who competed at Stanford. We are looking forward to finishing the year strong at our upcoming in-person National tournament. Thank you again to all the parents for your support.

12/10/2022 Kudos Competed in the 2022 SCJFL Quarter 2 Middle School Debate Only Competition – Online
Here’s the result and ranking for this tournament.

10-22-2022 Hello Kudos Family and congratulations for completing the first tournament of the year! Students have worked hard to get started on debate for the year and this is the first of many successes to come. We had breaks/advancements across all three debate events, well done!

For the Congress Debate final round: Annie Zhao placed 10th, Hayley Fung placed 9th, Ethan Li placed 8th, Michelle Cheng placed 5th, Edwin Jiao placed 4th, Linda Jiang placed 3rd, Sanju Chanumalla placed 2nd, and Audrey Huang was the tournament champion for Congress, placing 1st! Well done!

For Public Forum, we had breaks into the finals as well as top 10 speakers. For Speaker awards Kathleen Chen placed 9th, Katherine Duan placed 7th, Madeline Wong placed 6th, and Karina Yue placed 2nd! Congratulations! For overall placings, Kathleen Chen & Madeline Wong broke into Semi-Finals, placing 9th. Karina Yue & Katherine Duan advanced to finals, winning the last round and taking 6th overall. Very Well Done!

Finally, Lincoln Douglas also saw success for speakers and overall placements. For speaker awards Yuna Wu placed 7th and Michelle Zhang placed 1st! Well Done! For overall rankings, Michelle Zhang broke to Semi-Finals. Yuna Wu and Jerry Zhang made it to the Final break round with Yuna placing 9th overall and Jerry placing 5th! Great Job!

Thank you to all students for your hard work and to the parents for your continued support. Let’s get working on this next tournament!

10-21周五, 大家期待已久的演講比賽終於在Covid影響我們2年半以後, 回復到實體型態了!
這次主辦單位是由位於San Gabriel的Jefferson Middle School所舉辦, Kudos演講隊, 共有6位學生參加[即席演講]這個項目, 而整個比賽共有106位學生報名競賽
即席演講是所有演說項目中最難的, 因為事先不知道題目, 所以學生平日所閱讀與做research的量會比其他項目還要多!
當天下午每個參賽者與家長們都興致高昂的, 教練更是開心地帶領學生完成每一回合的比賽
教練Mrs. Kalmus說 : 學生們就是需要這樣與人群最直接的互動, 這樣更可以提升孩子們的社會感知能力與對環境的敏銳度, Covid後, 大家都被電腦螢幕綁架太久了, 該是出來透透氣並提振精神了!
一個晚上3回合下來, 到接近8點鐘, 宣布Betty Chen 進入到準決賽
Betty是從小學就開始在Kudos接受培訓的學生, 今年第一次進入中學比賽隊接受訓練
雖是隊上新生, 但Betty 憑著迅速的思路與清晰的口齒表達, 展現她的大將之風!
賽後, 大會成績揭曉, Betty獲得[即席演講] 第4名 !! 相當替她高興 ~

讓我們一起恭喜Betty與她的家長們 !!
以下為比賽花絮~

What an exciting close to the 2021-2022 debate season with this year’s Middle School Tournament of Champions hosted by the University of Kentucky.

This tournament sees competition from across the United States and is one of the most competitive in the country at the Middle School level. Public Forum saw over 210 entries and Lincoln Douglas over 130. Everyone has worked so hard this year and we are proud of every single debater who competed. The break this year was incredibly competitive, requiring a minimum of 4 wins out of 6 rounds. Congratulations to the follow debaters for making it through that that break:

For Lincoln Douglas, Yanzi Feng and Sophia Ren both advanced through the first elimination round and made it to the double octofinals (Top 32). Out of the preliminary rounds, Sophia Ren received the 4th place speaker award out of 130. Congratulations!!

For Public Forum, Yuna Wu & Kaden Wong and Alana Liang & Abigail Wang made it through the break to the triple octofinals and placed in the Top 60. Well done! The team of Joyce Zhang & Claire Liu made it through the first break round to the double octofinals and placed in the top 32. Congratulations!

Amazing job to all debaters! This is an incredibly tough competition and every debater should be proud of all the work they have put in this year. Thank you to all parents for all your help and support! We hope everyone enjoys their summer break and we hope to see everyone again soon.

Congratulations to our 2021-2022 tournament teams on a year well done!

The weekend of April 16th saw our students compete in their final online league tournament for the competitive year.
All debaters have battled difficult topics, strong opponents, and late nights of research throughout the year and every one should be proud of the efforts they put in.
Speech and Debate is an incredibly difficult and advanced activity to be involved in at a young age.
I encourage all debaters to continue on their personal speaking journey with the same strength and effort they put in this year.

We attended the 4th Quarter National Online Forensics League tournament that saw participation from high school, middle school, and elementary school divisions.
In Lincoln Douglas, Yanzi Feng broke to the final rounds and received a Silver Medal. Well done! For Public Forum, Celina Zhou received 1st place speaker award! Congratulations!
In Congress, Evelyn, Sanju, Tim, Serena, Anne and Larry made it to final and placed in Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively.

For placements, Jerry Zhang & Ethan Dong and Claire Liu & Joyce Zhang received Silver Medals.
Finally, Celina Zhou & Belle Huang and Yuna Wu & Claire Chen were awarded Gold Medals! Huge Congratulations!
All debaters tackled difficult and advanced topics, developing their skills as researchers and speakers. Everyone should feel proud of making it through all the tournaments this year.

Finally, Kudos would like to thank all the parents for your continued support of your children! They couldn’t do it without you. For all debaters going to TOC, continue to get rest and we will work hard over the coming weeks. To all debaters, have a great summer!

*Places for this tournament were measured in Silver/Gold medal, Gold indicated being in a top room/won finals, Silver indicating a break into the final round.*

4/9是中學進階班與中學演講隊學生們的比賽日
三校區: 天普,核桃,爾灣的學生們都摩拳擦掌準備了兩周, 比賽當日8點準時上線向教練報到

​經歷過3回合的出賽, 約於下午2點鐘公告進入到決賽名單:
由天普校區Claire Chen, 核桃校區Karina Yue, 爾灣校區Steven Wang​ 三位確認進入到決賽!

賽前三周前, 教練就讓學生不斷地練習, 並且在賽前一周還特別做了線上模擬, 9號週六的早上大家都著西裝筆挺的
整天下來學生們都經歷了難得的線上比賽經驗, 這也是許多學生第一次參加線上比賽, 因此大家都十分新奇興奮 !

最後讓我們恭喜 天普校區Claire Chen獲得即席演講第7名, 核桃校區Karina Yue新手組即席辯論第5名, 爾灣校區Steven Wang​新手組即席辯論第3名!
相當難得, 也讓我們非常期待開學後這3位同學進入到辯論隊後的發展, 請和我們一起拭目以待~