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?

The team gathers in the lobby of the tournament on Saturday morning for one last photo shoot before a day of travel back to Los Angeles.

But let’s rewind.  Four days prior, our warriors packed their tubs and business formal clothes, and boarded a plane to Alabama.

The mood was high. We were all excited to put our training to the test. Yet an underlying seriousness of purpose lay just beneath the jovial banter.

Wheeler and Kirk just figure they’ll wait till the crowd clears at the baggage claim in Alabama. Strauss, Tyson, Victor, and Alex are less patient.

We checked into the hotel and, after a long day of travel, everyone was happy to enjoy a delicious meal.

A hearty dinner the night before battle ensures vigor in the morning.

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.

Adrenaline pumps before the first day of competition.

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!

Justin, Angela, Caty, Mei, and Jack make adjustments between rounds.

But even as dedicated a group as this found some time for frivolity:

Not prepping… what’s this?  Middle-schoolers on their phones?  Shocking!

Spin your partner round and round.

Yes, apparently, Kelly and Jonathon found time to enter a square dancing contest while at the tournament.

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.

Stanley and his dad discuss Stanley’s final round performance with Wheeler.

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.

A full house assembles to see…

…who will get these.

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.

Joey and Natalie are awarded for  their quarterfinals berth.

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.

Congratulations, Kirk and Jerry, on your first place finish. You guys really deserved this.

All told, 18 different Kudos students earned a total of 25 awards (counting a team award, policy for example, as a single award).

Jenny: OO and Public Forum      Jack: Public Forum

Jax: Congress and Public Forum        Justin: Extemp and Public Forum

Victor Q: LD and Congress     Victor L: Public Forum

Audrey: Extemp                                          Caty: Public Forum

Angela: Extemp and Public Forum    N’Angela: Public Forum    Nora: Public Forum

Stanley: OO     Melinda: OO, HI, and Declamation     Alex: Congress and Public Forum

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:

Almost everyone is included in this picture.  Jax and Nora had already left.

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

_________________________________________

Mission accomplished, it was time to fly home:

Bye, Alabama. Thanks for the memories. See you in 4 years.