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

Cal Lutheran Debate Tournament:

Three-hundred, twenty-six students from thirty-seven schools attended the 2016 CLU Invitational at Cal Lutheran University. Nine Kudos students were among them.

In the novice policy debate division, Kudos eighth graders Thomas and Jacob Chon finished in second place. In Lincoln-Douglas debate, eighth-grader Anjee Feng reached the semifinal round (top four). Anjee was also fifth speaker.

Jacob Chon Novice CX w/ Thomas Chon Finalist
Thomas Chon Novice CX w/ Jacob Chon Finalist
Anjee Feng Open LD Semifinalist
Anjee Feng Open LD 5th speaker

Six-hundred and fourteen students from thirty-two schools attended the Cypress College Invitational on December 11 and 12.

In novice policy debate, Eric Gao and Eric Lu finished in first place. Eric Gao was first speaker and Eric Lu was third speaker.

One-hundred and twelve students from thirteen schools attended the second quarter SCJFL debate tournament at Glendale Community College.

In policy debate, Matthew Zhang finished in first place. Thomas and Jacob Chon finished in second place. Nikhil Navare and Erin Jeon finished in third place.

In Lincoln-Douglas debate, Olivia Kaneko finished in second place. Timothy Guo finished in fifth place and Joie Zhang finished in sixth place.

In public forum debate, Emma Chen and Nanette Zhang finished in fifth place. Alex Liu and Raymond Mo and Aaron Lee and William Chang also advanced to the octafinal round with 3-1 records.