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.

Elementary Tournament at La Salle High School, 10/22/2015

Kudos has the honor of being invited back after a successful tournament earlier in the spring semester. La Salle High School always makes it a fun afternoon for all.
The organizer wanted this to be an opportunity for all of the elementary school students to come together with their peers to showcase their public speaking and debate skills in a competition that maintains sportsmanship and respect for all competitors, both expert and novice.

And they made it a fun afternoon for all! Plenty of food and water for students between rounds, and a commemorative T-shirt to take home!

Among the 116 competitors from eight schools, following is Kudos results:

Selina Ho Poetry, First Place

Carolyn Sun SPAR , 3rd Place

Margaret Li Impromptu, 2nd Place

Sophie Tao Impromptu, 3rd Place

Henry Xu Impromptu, 4th Place

Elaine Zhang Impromptu, 6th Place

One-hundred and eleven students from eleven schools attended the first quarter SCJFL debate tournament at La Reina High school.

In policy debate, Matthew Zhang and Thomas Chon finished in first place. Eric Gao and Eric Lu finished in second place. Alex Liang and Erin Jeon finished in
fourth place and Nikhil Navare and Jacob Chon finished in fifth place.

Eric Lu was top speaker, Matthew Zhang was second speaker, and Eric Gao was third speaker.

In Lincoln-Douglas debate, Olivia Kaneko finished in second place. Alex Shaikh finished in sixth place. Timothy Guo finished in eighth place and Anjee Feng
in ninth place. Olivia was also top speaker.

In public forum debate, Nanette Zhang and Emma Chen finished in eleventh place. Aaron Zhang and Max Xiao finished in twelfth place. Angela Pang and Anabell Xu, Iris Choi and Alex Liu, and Merry Jiao and Ethan Chang also finished with 2-1 records.

Nine-hundred and nine students from eighty-eight schools and four states attended the Cal State Fullerton Speech and Debate Invitational.

Fourteen Kudos students were among them.

In the novice policy debate division, Kudos eighth graders Thomas Chon and Eric Lu reached the quarterfinals (top 8), competing against high school students.

Kudos seventh graders Matthew Zhang and Eric Gao reached the octafinal round (top 16). Eric Lu was also sixth place speaker. In middle school Lincoln-Douglas debate, Kudos eighth grader Alexander Shaikh finished in ninth place with a 3-2 record.

In middle school Impromptu speaking, Kudos eighth grader Purvaja Balaji finished in second place, and was the top seed after prelims.

Eric Lu Novice CX w/ Thomas Chon Quarters – Top 8 [6th Speaker]
Thomas Chon Novice CX w/ Eric Lu Quarters – Top 8
Eric Gao Novice CX w/ Matthew Octas – Top 16
Matthew Zhang Novice CX w/ Eric Gao Octas – Top 16
Alexander Shaikh Middle School LD 9th
Purvaja Balaji Middle School impromptu 2nd

Congrats!! NSDA Middle School National Debate Tournament – Dallas, Texas June 16th-19th, 2015

Thanks to the hard work of 14 talented debaters, Kudos took home the Middle School Debate Excellence Award at the Middle School National Tournament, an honor bestowed to only five schools in the nation. This marks the fourth consecutive year Kudos has won the award! In a pool of 126 teams in Public Forum, Ian/Vincent and Jacob/Thomas made it to the Double-Octafinal round. Moreover, Mei Johnson was the 10^th place speaker at the tournament.

Despite having a 5-1 record and ranking 15^th among all teams in preliminary rounds, Ian/Vincent did not advance after Double. Mei Johnson and Aaron Fong garnered 4-2 record in preliminary rounds, same as Jacob/Thomas, but did not clear to elimination rounds because of close cumulative speaker points. Out of 76 competitors in Lincoln Douglas, both Kelly and Shriya broke to elimination rounds. Kelly, with 4-2 record and 21^st ranking in prelim, lost in the Octafinal round. Shriya won four straight elimination rounds to advance to the final round where she lost on a close decision, and garnered the Runner-Up trophy! Meanwhile, Eric Gao and Mei Johnson lead their teammates to help Shriya and other debaters that advanced win their outrounds.

Most importantly, special mention is due to Coach Will Gingold and Advisor Andrew Rothschild. They stepped up in February of this year, taking over the helm of Kudos Tournament Team, solidified Kudos PF, LD, and Policy debaters’ capability, and created remarkable results at Santa Clara University Tournament (March, 2015), Glendale Community College State Championship and National Warm-up Tournament (April, 2015), and now the Nationals (June, 2015). After the Nationals debate topics were announced on May 1^st, 2015, the new coaches spared no efforts in steering the 14 students through research, case writing, card cutting, blocks preparation, and scrimmages, all while the students were going through their final exams and late-night studies at their respective schools.

The wonderful photos shown here will not be possible without the help from the doting eyes of Kudos parents: Aaron’s Mom Pauline, and Olivia’s father Shu. Sylvester’s aunt, Jessica, was entrusted with being the rock center of the National team, taking care of all minute details including the purse.
As a famous author Daniel Coyle reported in his best-selling book “The Talent Code”: “Talent grows in clusters because talent is best grown within networks of high-performing students, guided by skilled coaches; those coaches develop settings in which bright, motivated students are competitive but supportive, challenging each other while simultaneously helping and encouraging each other, thereby creating a relentless upward-spiral of achievement.” That’s what Kudos has been and aspire to be.

As Kudos Principal always says, “At the end of the day, it is not how many trophies you get, although we have now more than 600 awards won by our brilliant students throughout the years, but whether you can instill something that can accompany the students throughout their lives to help them become an upright and successful person; qualities such as decency, hard work, team spirit, sportsmanship, and a network of talented friends.”

2015 Nationals Results