In June 2016, Kudos College of Youth Leadership attended the National Middle School Speech and Debate Tournament in Utah with 28 participants and again received excellent results. For the fifth (5th) year in a row, Kudos was awarded the School of Excellence in Debate, an honor only 5 schools receive each year.

According to the Nationals’ published results, Eric Gao and Matthew Zhang defeated 98 competitors to advance to the final eight in Policy Debate, which is rare for 7th graders. Thomas Chon and Alexander Liang advanced to the top 16 in the same event. In Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Purvaja Balaji advanced to the top 16 and Olivia Kaneko to the top 32, among 91 contestants. Helina Zhao and Alex Liu placed in the top 32 among 126 teams in Public Forum. Anabell Xu and Raymond Mo won 4 rounds out of 6, and teams Emma Chen / Nanette Zhang and Aaron Zhang / Aaron Lee both won 3 rounds each.

Kudos Principal Laura Lin said this year’s Nationals hosted a record-breaking 136 schools from 33 states, and the overall strength of the schools preceded previous years. The Kudos team was aided by many parents that volunteered their time and efforts. This enabled the students to perform well.
Coaches Scott Wheeler, Andrew Rothschild and Andrew Perez were top performers back in their respective high school debate teams, and they did an exceptional job guiding the Kudos National team. Ever since the topics were announced for the Nationals on May 1st, they’ve been working tirelessly to prepare students!

Looking back at Kudos’ tournament history in the past six years, Kudos is one of only two schools that received the School of Excellence in Debate for 5 consecutive years (2012-2016), with the only other one being the hundred-year-old private Harker School in Northern California. In the 136 schools that participated this year, 34 were from California. Kudos earning the distinction of being one of the top schools is a great honor to uphold, and we wish to ride this success into all future tournaments.

Principal Lin indicated that her goal with Kudos is not to make every student into a competition winner, but to improve every student’s skills in communication, increase his or her confidence, and help them become leaders of tomorrow.

These effective communication and critical thinking skills that are at the core of the Kudos spirit and philosophy, are considered to be so important within the U.S. education system that they have been strongly emphasized in Common Core standards.

But the skills did not come easy. Half of all Kudos National Team members have been trained with Kudos since elementary school.

Their skills will help them become strong leaders of tomorrow.

11th grader Jerry Wang achieved a remarkable achievement. He won the Nationals High School division Policy championship this year representing his high school. In 2013, he won the Nationals Middle School division Policy championship representing Kudos. For both championships, he was coached by Kudos Head Coach Scott Wheeler. It is extremely rare for any student to achieve either of these great successes; but Jerry, in winning both championships, is really a Policy Debate legend!

The fall semester registration is ongoing; we welcome all parents to inquire about our class offerings. Tel: 626-286-6889. www.KudosEducation.com

Orator’s Cup III Elementary Tournament May 28th, 2016

The competition was fierce, 10 schools and 112 students competed in the Orator’s cup on May 28th, 2016. It was the first elementary speech tournament that all Kudos Level 2 Advanced Class students from 3 campuses participated in this semester. It was a great opportunity for students to practice and warm up and also an excellent chance for them to learn tournament formats and rules.

Kudos participants won two championships and two second places in this important event!

Franklin Zhu from the Kudos Walnut campus took the 1st place in Spontaneous Argumentation (SPAR) debate. SPAR is a highly competitive category because students get the topic on the day of the competition, which requires the competitor to have considerable knowledge of current affairs to do well. In this structured debate, students have to frame an argument in one minute and then react quickly to their opponents’ ideas. This strategy helps students practice using evidence and examples to defend a position.

Franklin won the championship in his first competition, and we congratulate him. Below is a nice picture of Franklin holding his trophy after a long day of 5 solid rounds.

From Irvine, Bryan Gao and Katelyn Gan took Impromptu speech 7th and 6th place, respectively.

Konnie Duan, Margaret Li and Carolyn Sun from Temple City were all in the final 10 in Impromptu. Sophie Tao and Henry Xu got 8th and 10th in SPAR respectively.

Kevin Ying and Makenna Wong from the Temple City campus were crowned champions in Duo Interp. Their perfectly-timed and humorous style won audience and judges alike. Selina Ho and Lucas Lim, also from Temple City, won second place.

Lily Johnson from Temple City was placed 2nd in Storytelling, in her first tournament.

After a long but exciting day that lasted from 8am to 7pm, Kudos would like to say thanks to all the parents who took care of Kudos students, enabling the teachers and coaches to focus on the competition. Although it was a high-paced competition, we know that the lessons students learned were irreplaceable and well worth it!

On May 5th, 2016, seven Kudos elementary survey class students participated in St. Rita Elementary Spring Speech & Debate Tournament located at Sierra Madre, for their first tournament experience.

Due to ongoing construction, St. Rita School accommodated fewer students this year that constituted only novice contestants. Kudos was honored to have received the invitation, knowing that St. Rita always hosts tournaments with great organization and fun!

Below are some wonderful photos captured and shared by parents and coaches.

Impromptu
Darren Kuo , 1st Place, Co-Champion
Christina Feng, 1st Place, Co-Champion
Brian Chen, 3rd Place

Storytelling
Christina Xu, 1st Place
Cassie Kao, 2nd Place
Katherine Klygys, 5th Place

“Impromptu Award Winners on the stage.”

“Storytelling Award Winners on the stage.”

Cal State Fullerton Speech and Debate Tournament – May 1st, 2016

The last tournament of the 2015-2016 school year took place on May 1st, 2016, at Cal State Fullerton High School Invitational. Students were looking forward to this tournament to showcase what they had learned.

In Policy Debate, middle-schoolers Eric Lu and Alex Liang signed up for the Open Division, where they competed with experienced high and middle school debaters. They not only broke, but fought to the final round and took home the 2nd place. Congratulations to them for this hard-earned trophy!

In Lincoln Douglas Debate Open Division, Kudos middle schoolers Anjee Feng and Timothy Guo broke to the Octas Finals. It was exciting to see that the Champion of this category, Edison Wong, had been a Kudos contestant until he went on to the 10th grade. Congratulations, Edison!

In Public Forum, Ethan Chang and Aaron Zhang advanced all the way in the Middle School division to the last round and ended up in top 8.

In speech categories, most of Kudos contestants focused on the Impromptu Speech event. Impromptu is a five- to eight-minute speech with a characteristically short preparation time of one to two minutes. Everything is chosen and decided on the spot. Because of its nature, it is the most unpredictable speech event.

8th grader Sharon Liu, after 6 months of Coach Hacela’s coaching, and two years of solid classes behind her, had drastically improved her delivery style and improvisational skills. She got 6th place in the previous tournament and the goal this time was making the top 3.

Before the tournament, Coach Hacela had decided to enhance coaching intensity for Sharon and other students to increase their chances in this last tournament. Kudos Principal gave the nod; he led the Kudos team not just to finals, but claimed the championship in Cal State Fullerton speech tournament Impromptu event! Sharon finally got her first championship! She was very emotional and shed tears of joy when receiving the award.

Sherry Li did an amazing job in the Open Humorous Interp event. Against high and middle school contenders, she worked hard under the guidance of Coach Josh and got the 3rd Place.

Benny Tong competed for the first time in Congress. He had multiple discussions with coach Mr. Wheeler about how to be persuasive and how to improve his bill in general. He broke and advanced to final, making his mom very proud!

This tournament ended with big applause to all the coaches and parents, most importantly our young warriors. You all made this an enjoyable journey, we are proud of your efforts, dedication, and discipline. We will see you all after summer!!

In the Public Forum division, the team of Anabell Xu and Raymond Mo was tournament champions.

The teams of Iris Choi and Max Xiao and Merry Jiao and Nanette Zhang reached the octafinal round (top 16).
Anabell and Raymond were able to win despite having the highest opponent wins in the entire tournament (the teams that they debated had an opponent win total of 18, meaning that five teams they debated averaged 3.6 wins each).

The team of Aaron Zhang and Ethan Chang also finished with a winning record, but missed breaking to elimination rounds on tiebreakers.

Overall, the seven Kudos teams won twenty-four rounds.

In Lincoln-Douglas (LD) debate, Timothy Guo reached the quarterfinal round (top 8).

Nikhil Navare was second place speaker, receiving a 29 or better (out of 30) in four of his five rounds. Olivia Kaneko also finished with a winning record but missed breaking to elimination rounds on tiebreakers.

In policy debate, Eric Gao was eighth speaker.

Raymond Mo PF w/ Anabell Champions
Anabell Xu PF w/ Raymond Champions
Max Xiao PF w/ Iris Octas – Top 16
Iris Choi PF w/ Max Octas – Top 16
Nanette Zhang PF w/ Merry Octas – Top 16
Merry Jiao PF w/ Nanette Octas – Top 16
Timothy Guo LD Quarters – Top 8
Nikhil Navare LD 2nd Speaker
Phillip Chien LD 10th Speaker
Eric Gao Policy w/ Matthew 8th Speaker

One-hundred, forty-eight students from thirty-three schools and five states attended the third annual USC Damus Spring Trojan Championships at the University of Southern California the weekend of March 4th-6th, 2016. Twelve Kudos students (middle school) were among them.

In junior-varsity policy debate, Kudos teams did exceptionally well; the team of Eric Gao and Matthew Zhang (both in 7th grade) won eight rounds to finish in Second Place. Eric was 4th speaker and Matthew was 9th speaker. The team of Eric Lu and Jacob Chon reached the quarterfinal round (top 8), and Eric was 5th speaker. The team of Alex Liang and Thomas Chon finished their preliminary rounds with a 4-2 record and barely missed clearing on speaks (by less than a full speaker point).

Remarkable results, considering they were up against many high school debaters !!!

Eighty-nine students from twelve schools attended the third league tournament on 2/27 at Ribet Academy. Eight Kudos public forum teams attended the tournament. Three of the teams broke and two placed.

Teams Ethan Chang and Aaron Zhang, together with Anabell Xu and Raymond Mo, both teams broke to Octafinal, and further competed in the Quarter Final Round (top 8 teams). Anabell and Raymond won that round, but was announced to have finished in sixth place. Kudos Coach Perez checked with the tab room to see whether there was any mistake, the reply was that the tab decided to tabulate the final places taking all the previous round results instead of just the Quarter Final results.

It was announced that Ethan Zhang and Aaron Zhang finished in seventh place and Anabell Xu and Raymond Mo finished in sixth place. Emma Chen and Nanette Zhang also broke at the tournament but were walked over in the octafinal round by Ethan and Aaron.

Among the 54 debaters in Public Forum, Kudos contestants Aaron Lee was the 4th Speaker while Ethan Chang was ranked as the 7th Speaker!

Good work, all Kudos teams!

2016 UC Berkeley Speech and Debate Tournament, February 13th-15th, 2016

The annual UC Berkeley Tournament is an event Kudos, and other middle and high school competitive teams across the nation, would not want to miss.
This February, Kudos team to Berkeley is the largest ever, consisting of 21 students, six parents, and three coaches. In addition, six students from Kudos Shanghai participated in this unprecedented event.

The Kudos Shanghai team arrived in sunny Southern California one week prior to the tournament, to receive face-to-face coaching from Kudos Head Coach Mr. Scott Wheeler and two other coaches, whom they had met only through video conferencing scrimmages during the two months training time.

Soon the competitors from two sides of the Pacific Ocean became comrades facing the same battle.

138 students, from 10 states, competed in Junior Varsity Lincoln Douglas Debate. Three Kudos contestants, Nikhil Navare, Olivia Kaneko, and Purvaja Balaji all went a fantastic 4-2 but missed clearing to elimination rounds based on a slight short on speaker points.

124 teams, from 10 states and 2 countries, competed in Junior Varsity Policy Debate. In Policy, Eric Gao and Matthew Zhang, both 7th graders, went a rare 3-3, losing their 6th round, where victory would have allowed them to clear to elimination rounds. Jacob Chon and Eric Lu also went 3-3, a stellar record for middle school students amid strong high school competitors.

In Junior Varsity Public Forum debate, 118 teams, from 7 states and 2 countries, competed. Emma Chen and Nanette Zhang went a remarkable 3-3, losing their 6th round, where victory would have allowed them to clear to elimination rounds. Lydia Fraser and Helina Zhao, Iris Choi and Angela Pang, both teams had two victorious rounds.

Among Kudos Shanghai’s six-member, three Public Forum teams, Steven Xue and Calvin Pan, Stephanie Dan and Katherine Wang, had winning records for two rounds in Junior Varsity Public Forum which was exceptional. Together with Maya Liu and Stephanie Feng, each of them also competed in Original Oratory Speech, where they had momentous and outstanding experience.

One-hundred, seven students from seventeen schools attended the 2016 IVC Winter Classic at Irvine Valley College. Six Kudos students were among them.

In the middle school Lincoln-Douglas division, Kudos eighth grader Tim Guo finished in third place and was eighth speaker, winning all of his preliminary rounds.

In elementary public forum debate, Kudos sixth graders Aaron Zhang and Rachel Wang finished in sixth place. Aaron was fifth speaker.

In high school Lincoln-Douglas, Kudos ninth grader Justin Jiang finished in tenth place and was ninth speaker.

Tim Guo Middle school Lincoln-Douglas 3rd place
Tim Guo Middle school Lincoln-Douglas 8th speaker

Justin Jiang High school Lincoln-Douglas 10th place
Justin Jiang High school Lincoln-Douglas 9th speaker

Aaron Zhang Elementary PF w/ Rachel Wang 6th place
Rachel Wang Elementary PF w/ Aaron Zhang 6th place
Aaron Zhang Elementary PF w/ Rachel Wang 5th speaker