南加小學演講辯論賽   Kudos勇奪「雙冠王」

 南加小學演講辯論比賽，今年五月17日在 Sierra Madre的私立天主教 St. Rita學校舉行，Kudos青少年領袖培訓專校的選手一舉奪下兩個辯論項目的冠軍以及十五個獎，延續去年的好成績。

Kudos 選手包辦了「公共論壇」(Public Forum)辯論項目的前四名：冠軍Eric Gao和Aileen Wan、亞軍 Ryan Lee 和 Emma Chen、第三名 Brandon Szeto 和 Kyle Torres、第四名William Chen和 Audwin Chang、第六名William Chang和Austin Wong。這可能是全美唯一舉辦「公共論壇」二對二辯論項目的小學演辯賽，Kudos曾在2012年初中全國賽奪得此項目冠軍，Kudos小學五年級選手在此優良傳統下，進入「公共論壇辯論參賽種子班」學習，自然戰績高人一等。

冠軍Eric Gao和Aileen Wan

第三名 Brandon Szeto 和 Kyle Torres

第四名William Chen和 Audwin Chang

第六名William Chang和Austin Wong

在現場才知道題目的一對 一「即席辯論」(SPAR)項目中，Kudos小將更一舉摘下一至五名：冠軍是來自Kudos爾灣校區的 Emily Zhang、亞軍Christian Yang與季軍Sunny Lin 均在Kudos核桃校區學習、殿軍Natalie Wang(爾灣) 以及第五名Justin Li (天普校區)。顯現出Kudos 在面對來自Roosevelt 小學、Science Magnet  Elementary、Wilshire Academy等校的對手時，鎮靜又犀利。

Kudos 爾灣校區小學部在Jennifer O’Hara老師的教導下凝聚力強。此次帶領「演辯進階班」學生參賽和部分學生合影：(左起) Andrew Tseng, Michael Jiang, Toubby Chao, Mandy Yang, Connie Cheng, Natalie Wang, Stephanie Cao, Emily Zhang

核桃校區「即席演辯進階班」導師Angela Garbin 博士高興與得獎選手合照：(左起) Aaron Zhang, Sunny Lin, Christian Yang, William Chang.

即席辯論比賽由Kudos學生包辦前五名。(右起) Emily Zhang, Christian Yang, Sunny Lin, Natalie Wang, and Justin Li

在難度頗高的「即席演說」(Impromptu Speaking)項目中，Kudos 贏得決賽六名中的三名，包括季軍 Connie Cheng、殿軍Aaron Zhang、第五名 Toubby Chau。這三位小將去年參賽就表現不俗，若持之以恆，前途未可限量。

此外，來自天普校區「詮釋演講進階班」的 Allen Lin曾以「即席演講」、「故事重述」等項目參賽，均進入決賽，這次勇於接受挑戰，以「如何成為百萬富翁」為題，在「圖文詮釋」項目中 (Expository) 以幽默的文筆、清亮的聲音、美麗的海報，擄獲亞軍的獎杯!

Allen Lin (右二) 四年來參加Kudos多元化課程鍛鍊，這次贏得「圖文簡報」亞軍榮譽，更上層樓

Kudos校長Laura Lin表示，我們這些三至五年級的兒童穿上小西裝、小洋裝，把平日在教室中苦練的成果表現出來，就是一種好大的成就了。不論這次得獎與否，只要看到孩子有進步，家長和她都好開心，因為我們都記得作者葛來威 (Malcolm Gladwell) 在”Outlier”一書中指出的，成功等於「不尋常的機會加上一萬小時的練習」，我們的學生已經走在通往成功的路上好一陣子了。

Kudos天普市「詮釋演說進階班」學生 Moses Lee (左二) 在名教練 Adrian Zaw教導下得到Storytelling第六名

小 Konnie與小亨利 (HenryXu) 都努力不懈，很得老師喜愛

In early March, Kudos split into two groups to compete at both a High School and a Middle School tournaments on the same weekend.  Mr. Freeman took a small group to JV/Novice National Championship at San Francisco State University.  Kirk Wu was the only freshman in semifinals among a group of sophomores and Audrey Lam finished right behind him in Quarterfinals.

Meanwhile in Southern California, the Middle School competitors attended the third Middle School league tournament of the year.  Michael Huang and Mei Johnson finished in 4^th place overall in Public Forum.  Other teams that advanced to elimination rounds in PF were Miranda Chang and Vincent Liu, Miranda Cheung and William Zhu.  In Lincoln-Douglas, Justin Jiang finished in 7^th place.  Also advancing to elimination rounds were Courtney Chan and Brian Chang.  In Policy Debate, the team of Michelle Xu and Jonathan Ge, both from Kudos Irvine campus, finished in 2^nd place.

At the third speech tournament, Kudos continued to add to the reservoir of trophies.  Catherine Szeto finished in first place in Original Oratory.  In Prose, Catherine Lee finished in third place, Victor Luo won fifth, and Karen Thai joined them in finals with a 12^th place finish.

Kudos prepared for Nationals by attending the Bruscke Invitational.  A High School tournament at California State Fullerton.  Even though many of our entries were in Middle School, they still brought home a number of recognitions.

In Policy Debate, Natalie Wang was honored as the 4^th Overall Speaker.  In the Novice Division, Michael Wu earned Top Speaker and Lauren Song was the 2^nd Speaker on top of finishing as finalists.

In Varsity Public Forum, Middle School students Victor Luo and Tanya Yang (at her second tournament ever) advanced to Octafinals.  In Novice, Eric Deng and Aaron Fong finished in finals.

Despite competing in Varsity for the first time at a High School tournament as a 7^th grader, Justin Jiang advanced to elimination rounds and lost in a valiant effort to an experience High School Senior in Octafinals.  The hard work of all teams at this tournament set up the foundation for future success at Nationals.

At the final league tournaments, Kelly Wong and Victor Luo earned first and third place in Sightreading.  Shiriya Padegepati earned first place in Congressional Debate and the team of Ian Chen and Vincent Liu advanced to elimination rounds in Public Forum.  Kelly Wong and Victor Luo finished in first place of Policy debate.

Also to note are our state qualifiers!  These students come to Kudos for training in speech and debate even though they compete for their own high school

and qualified to the state tournament.

Kirk Wu – San Marino – Policy Debate

Audrey Lam – San Marino – Lincoln-Douglas

Jon Le – Oxford – International Extemperaneous.