2013 SCJFL Winter League Debate Tournament

The story of February begins with the first of two big league tournaments for our middle school teams.  On the 2nd, our students traveled to Ribet Academy to participate in Public Forum, Lincoln Douglas, and Policy in the SCJFL Winter League Tournament.  Our league is by all accounts the biggest and most competitive middle school debate league in the country, so we knew going in that we were in for a tough fight.  All told, 13 schools participated and 60 teams entered Public Forum, making that event particularly cutthroat.

Alex and Jax (left to right) win 1st place trophies in Public Forum.

Our kids were up for the challenge, as Kudos prevailed, taking home 1st, 4th, and 7th place in the event.

Additionally, we had 3 of the top 10 speakers in PF, including overall 1st speaker of 120 competitors!

Angela and Justin (left) round out our PF wins with a 7th place finish.

But it wasn’t just the PF’ers who did our school proud.  Kudos prevailed in policy debate as well, as our two entries took home the top two spots, earning 1st and 2nd place trophies.

Joey, Kirk, Melinda, and Natalie (left to right) make up the 1st and 2nd place teams in Policy.

We also had an excellent showing in LD, earning 3 of the 8 trophies in the event.

Three Kudos students are amongst the LD trophy winners: Audrey Lam, Jerry Wang, and Stanley Yu.

In the end, Kudos walked away with more awards than any other school, including the championship in two of the three events offered.

A complete list of our SCJFL Winter Debate Winners:

Alex Zhao and Jax Rounds – 1st Place – Public Forum Debate

Jenny Li and Jack Li – 4th Place – Public Forum Debate

Justin Chuang and Angela Chen – 7th Place – Public Forum Debate

Joseph Kiang and Kirk Wu – 1st place – Policy Debate

Natalie Wang and Melinda Wang – 2nd place – Policy Debate

Stanley Yu – 5th place – Lincoln Douglass Debate

Jerry Wang - 6th place – Lincoln Douglass Debate

Audrey Lam – 8th place – Lincoln Douglass Debate

Alex Zhao - 1st Speaker of 120 competitors in Public Forum

Jax Rounds - 4th Speaker of 120 competitors in Public Forum

Jenny Li - 8th Speaker of 120 competitors in Public Forum

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2013 SCJFL Winter League Speech Tournament

Less than a week after the league debate tournament, our hardworking warriors traveled to Glendale Community College to compete in the SCJFL Winter League Speech Tournament.  Originally scheduled to be hosted at St. Rita’s, the tournament moved to Glendale when a total of 13 schools and 169 entries registered in the 4 events offered and more room was needed.

Victor and Phoebe take advantage of one last chance to practice before the exciting final round.

Our school had just 7% of the entries but won 31% of the trophies, as 10 of our 12 competitors earned awards.

From left to right, we see Phoebe, Melinda, Jessica, Caty, Victor, Joseph, Audrey, Stanley, Jerry and Kirk celebrating their hard-earned awards. Behind, we see Mr. Strauss, who is much happier than he looks.

Prose:  Kudos fielded 3 of the 53 total entries in Prose – Phoebe Wang, Jessica Lin, and Victor Luo.  With only the top 8 places receiving trophies, we’d have to be at our best to compete in this event.

With the field cut down to the top 9 competitors, Phoebe delivers her speech in the all-important final round of Prose.

All three of our Prose entries excelled in the preliminary rounds, earning each of them a berth to Finals.  Victor earned 6th place, Jessica got 5th, and Phoebe won 1st place, Prose Champion.

Original Oratory:  OO proved to offer an even larger field than Prose.  With 60 total entries, our 5 competitors had plenty of competition.

Here we see Brandon in round, delivering his speech about highly sensitive people.

3 of our 5 entries ended battling through to Finals, with Jerry Wang, Stanley Yu, and Melinda Guo taking 2nd, 3rd, and 4th places respectively.

Stanley provides some sophisticated analysis in his speech about deindividuation.

Melinda’s hard work pays off again!

Extemp: Our four entries in Extemp weren’t about to let the Prose and OO kids claim all the glory.  Kirk Wu, Caty Szeto, Joseph Kiang, and Audrey Lam each battled through three preliminary rounds to advance to Finals, and earned 4th, 6th, 7th, and 5th place, respectively.

Caty earns a trophy in Extemp…

…and so does Kirk!

A complete list of our SCJFL Winter Debate Winners:

Phoebe Wang – Prose – 1st Place

Jessica Lin – Prose – 5th place

Victor Luo – Prose – 6th place

Jerry Wang – OO – 2nd place

Stanley Yu – OO – 3rd place

Melinda Guo – OO – 4th place

Kirk Wu – Extemp – 4th place

Audrey Lam – Extemp – 5th place

Caty Szeto – Extemp – 6th place

Joseph Kiang – Extemp – 7th place

January 2013

The new year brought the Cal Lutheran Invitational, into which our students strode confidently, and from which our students viagra online cheap emerged victorious.  Kudos claimed three of the top four finishes http://www.whereslloyd.com/cls in novice Public Forum, with the teams of Michelle Jeon and Lauren Song, and Julie Wang and Jenny Li finishing as semi-finalists, and the team of Jeffery Jen and Celena Chen taking home the championship.  Additionally, Jax Rounds received the top speaker award in this event, and the 4th speaker award for all of Public Forum, including both novice and open divisions, a remarkable feat for an 8th grader going up against high school competition.  Kudos also won novice LD, thanks to Audrey Lam‘s dominant debating, and had a semi-finalist as well, in Stanley Yu.  Audrey’s brother, Nathan Lam, finished 2nd in open LD, and George Hou, as half of a hybrid team, won open Policy.

But our kids also achieved great success in the speech events, with Edison Wong and Caty Szeto finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively in novice http://www.ejsmith.com/ Extemp, Stanley Yu and Melinda Guo finishing 3rd and 6th respectively in open OO, and Jenny Li pulling out 6th place in novice OO, as a 6th grader, in her very first tournament!

December 2013

December was a very busy month.

First, our debaters attended the La Costa Canyon Invitational, where Victor Li achieved a Quarterfinalist award, and David Dosch accomplished Octafinalist, both in Lincoln-Douglas debate.  David also earned the top speaker award in this event, and was the top seed going into out rounds.

Next was the 35th annual Los Angeles County Mock Trial Competition, held at the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Caty gets grilled by the defense attorney in this session of mock trial.

The competition featured over 300 students and 30 school teams, and was adjudicated by actual Superior Court judges.  We brought a smaller team than most schools, but that didn’t stop us.

Mr. Wheeler provides some last minute coaching.

Coach Scott Wheeler led the team to an impressive 3rd place finish, and five individual awards:

Jerry Wang - Outstanding Prosecution Attorney; Kirk Wu - Outstanding Prosecution Attorney; Jacqueline Shang - Outstanding Defense Witness; Jonathon Liu - Outstanding Prosecution Witness; and Caty Szeto - Outstanding Prosecution Witness.

From left to right: Julie Wang, Coach Joanne, Jacqueline Shang, Caty Szeto, Jerry Wang, Jonathon Liu, Coach Scott Wheeler, Justin Yeh, the judge, and Kirk Wu

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Later in the month, our elementary forensics competitors battled at the St. Rita’s Elementary Tournament, where we earned a total of 16 awards. In SPAR debate, Kudos students brought home 4 of the top 6 spots: Emily Zhang – 2nd place; Alvina Zhang – 3rd place; Anjee Feng – 4th place; and Miranda Chen – 6th place.

Pictured: Second from the right – Emily Zhang; third from the right – Alvina Zhang; fourth from the right – Anjee Feng; far left – Miranda Chen

Both of our Duo Interp teams trophied as well, with Eric Mao and Alyssa Huang earning 3rd place, and Jaclyn Yip and Brandon Szeto getting 5th.  

Pictured: Far left – Jaclyn Yip and Brandon Szeto; center – Eric Mao and Alyssa Huang

Jacob Chon, Allen Lin, and Evan Steinhoff all earned trophies in impromptu, winning 4th, 5th, and 6th place honors respectively.

Pictured from left to right: Evan Steinhoff, Allen Lin, and Jacob Chon

Art Xue, Courtney Chan, and Nanette Zhang took 3rd, 5th, and 6th places in Poetry.

Pictured: Courtney Chan (far left), Nanette Zhang (second from left), and Art Xue (fourth from left)

Lastly, Elaine Hong trophied in Storytelling, bringing home 6th place.

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The final tournament of December was the Harker Invitational, a middle school tournament held each year in San Jose that includes the best teams in the state.

Natalie and Sally show off their 1st place trophies in Policy Debate.

Competition was fierce, but, as usual, Kudos was up to the challenge, in both speech and debate events.  We earned 18 total awards, including winning the championship in 5 events, including Policy Debate, Public Forum Debate, Original Oratory, Prose, and Extemporaneous Speaking.  It was, needless to say, a very impressive showing, and a clear statement to our opposition that Kudos is the team to beat.

Audrey Lam, Stanley Yu, and Justin Chiang and Angela Chen celebrate championships.

A complete list of our Harker winners:

Jerry Wang – Prose – 1st place

Cicily Deng – Prose – 3rd place

Stanley Yu – Original Oratory – 1st place

Audrey Lam – Extemporaneous – 1st place

Joseph Kiang – Extemporaneous – 2nd place

Kirk Wu – Extemporaneous – 4th place

Melinda Wang – Impromptu – 4th place

Justin Chuang and Angela Chen – Public Forum Debate – 1st place

Natalie Wang and Gyuwon Kang – Policy Debate – 1st place

Jerry Wang and Kirk Wu – Policy Debate – Semifinalist

Joseph Kiang and Melinda Wang – Policy Debate – Semifinalist

Natalie Wang – Policy Debate – Top Speaker

Kirk Wu – Policy Debate – 3rd Speaker

Jerry Wang – Policy Debate – 4th Speaker

Joseph Kiang – Policy Debate – 7th Speaker

Audrey Lam – Lincoln-Douglas Debate – Quarterfinalist

Stanley Yu – Lincoln-Douglas Debate – Octafinalist

Audrey Lam – Lincoln-Douglas Debate – 10th Speaker

Kirk and Jerry are seen here with awards won in Policy Debate and Prose.

November 2012

November featured two middle school SCJFL league tournaments, one for individual events and one for debate.  Kudos brought a small team to the SCJFL Fall Speech Tournament, held at Jefferson Middle School in San Gabriel.  Here, Jessica Lin earned 4th place in a large field of Impromptu Speaking competitors, while Phoebe Wang took 4th in Expository Speaking.

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A few days later, the SCJFL Fall Debate Tournament was held at Ridgecrest Intermediate School in Rancho Palos Verdes.  We knew going in that this would be a battle, as the SCJFL is objectively one of the strongest middle school debate leagues in the country.  Our debaters acquitted themselves admirably, and emerged with numerous awards.

Victor Luo (left) and Kylin Feng display trophies won in Public Forum Debate

In Public Forum Debate, Jerry Wang and Kirk Wu earned 3rd place, while Kylin http://voicecouncil.com/?tags=/buy-cialis-generic.php Feng and Victor Luo brought home 7th.  We also achieved 3 of the top 4 spots in Lincoln-Douglas debate, when Stanley Yu took the championship, Victor Qin won 2nd, and Jonathon Liu accomplished 4th.

From left to right: Jonathon Liu, Stanley Lu, and Victor Qin bring glory unto themselves and their school in Lincoln Douglas debate.

September and October 2012:

No tournaments were scheduled for September, but http://www.trevorturnbull.com October brought our first tournament of the new school year, a high school invitational held at Cal State Fullerton, where we competed only in debate events. 8 of the top 16 finishes in Policy Debate belonged to Kudos competitors, and one of our Public Forum teams also broke to the top 16. This was a great warmup tournament for us, especially considering that this was the first tournament in which Kudos competed in Policy Debate.

CS Fullerton Winners List:

Jerry Wang and Kirk Wu – 3rd place, Novice Policy

Joseph Kiang and Melinda Wang – Octafinalists, Novice Policy

George Hou and Philip Chen – Octafinalists, Novice Policy

Alex Zhao and Cicily Deng –  Octafinalists, Novice Public Forum

Joseph Kiang – 9th speaker, Novice Policy

Summer 2012:

Summers are, of course, the off-season for competitive speech and http://www.varley.net/online/ debate. No tournaments are hosted in July and August. But that doesn’t mean that we just sat around twiddling our thumbs! The Kudos summer day program proved a great success, providing academic instruction in English, math, and science, and supplementing this curriculum with specialized instruction in forensics and even magic! In addition to our day-long summer programs, Kudos also offered several camps to get our competitors prepared early for the 2012-2013 in both individual and debate events.

June 2012:

June brought the Kudos middle school team its biggest challenge yet, as our noble warriors traveled to Indianapolis to compete against the best teams in the country at the NJFL National Tournament. At a tournament like this, where 69 schools attend, and each event has nearly 100 entries, even a single finalist is quite an accomplishment. Kudos students achieved beyond even our most optimistic hopes. Joanna Hua and Natham Lam won the National Championship in Public Forum Debate. Additionally,our team earned 2 top 6 finishes (finalists) in Original Oratory and Congressional Debate, 2 additional semi-finalist awards in Original Oratory, 1 octafinalist award in Public Forum Debate, and a quarterfinalist in Prose. All this resulted in Kudos earning one of only three coveted Overall School of Excellence awards. The other two schools so awarded were both large private schools with big teams and long pedigrees of success.

Photo: Kudos College of Youth Leadership participated in 2012 U.S. National Junior Forensic League Speech and Debate Tournament. Twelve contestants and the coach stood behind eleven trophies and plaques. They are: (back row from left) Jerry Wang, Philip Chen, Jeffery Jen, George Hou, Scott Wheeler (coach), Nathan Lam, Johnson Li, Kevin Huang, Kirk Wu, Victor Li, (front row, from left) Caty Szeto, Joanna Hua, and Melinda Guo.

More Tournament Pictures

May 2012:

The final middle school league tournament, hosted by High Point at La Puente High School, was the only event held in May.

Kudos winners are pictured here. In the front row, from left to right, we see Melinda Guo, George Hou, Philip Chen, Joseph Kiang, Audrey Lam, and Amy Lin. In the back row, from left to right, we see Victor Li, Stanley Yu, Edison Wong, Nathan Lam, and Amy Lin.

Kudos nearly closed out Public Forum Debate, winning 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th places. We also earned 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th, and 5^th places in Original Oratory. It was an exceedingly strong performance to close out the league season.

Kudos celebrates a dominant performance at La Puente.

Edison Wong and Stanley Yu – 1^st place, Public Forum Debate

Joanna Hua and Nathan Lam – 2^nd place, Public Forum Debate

Jerry Wang and Kirk Wu – 3^rd place, Public Forum Debate

Philip Chen and Joseph Kiang – 4^th place, Public Forum Debate

Amy Lin and Audrey Lam – 5^th place, Public Forum Debate

Victor Li – 1^st place, Original Oratory

Melinda Guo – 2^nd place, Original Oratory

George Hou – 4^rd place, Original Oratory

Keon Peng – 5^th place, Original Oratory

The Wong and Yu families enjoy victory!