Your Source for news and culture about Wisconsin Debate and Forensics
The September-October 2010 Lincoln Douglas Debate topic is:
Resolved: States ought not possess nuclear weapons.
The September 2010 Public Forum Debate topic is:
Resolved: Allowing deep water offshore oil drilling is in the best interest of the United States.
A great weekend was had for all at the efficiently run National Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament over Memorial Day weekend in beautiful Omaha, with several Wisconsin teams returning home with inspirations for next year and much success.
Below is a running list of individual results, gathered together from what I know. Feel free to leave additions or corrections in the comments.
Archdiocese of Milwaukee:
Isaiah Grady, Bradley Tech – Octofinalist in Oral Interpretation of Literature
Alexis Wilkinson, Nicolet – Octofinalist in Original Oratory
Jake Tully, Brookfield East – Semi-finalist in Dramatic Performance
Gabby Termühlen, Brookfield East – Octofinalist in Oratorial Declamation
Jennifer Vosters, Brookfield East – Octofinalist in Dramatic Performance
Aditya Trivedi and Chih-Wei Wu, Brookfield East – Double-octofinalists in Public Forum Debate
Jenna Huebner & David Mullins, Appleton East – Quarterfinalists in Duo Interpretation
Claire Zhuang, Appleton East – Octofinalist in Dramatic Performance
Diocese of Green Bay:
Alice Zhao, Sheboygan North – Quarterfinalist in Original Oratory
Caitlin Holzem and Amen Okundaye, Neenah – Double-Octofinalist Policy Debate
Kris Harmelink, Sheboygan South – Octofinalist in Dramatic Performance
Maria Giannopoulos, Sheboygan South – Semifinalist in Student Congress
Diocese of Eau Claire:
Megan Marquardt, Eau Claire North, Octofinalist in Original Oratory
Special congrats are in order to the kids at Bradley Tech and their coach Ernest Chomicki who saw their first student break to elimination rounds at nationals – an exciting and historic event in the life of a forensic program. Congratulations to Bradley Tech, and to everyone who represented our state with class this weekend!
Brookfield East is screening the Wisconsin premiere of the documentary Speak Easy. Speak Easy unearths the “little known world of Forensics” (their words, not ours). The film follows four high school (Duo) teams from four different states for one full year, culminating at the National Tournament in Las Vegas (in 2008). (This is not the similarly named documentary about Toastmasters competitions.)
{Slight spoiler, one team is from James Logan. Another is from Eagan. Perennial final round contenders… so you know it’s going to be good.}
The screening is scheduled for this Thursday, May 13, 2010 at 7:oo pm. The show is at Brookfield East high school. Need an address to put in your GPS? Here you go: 3305 Lilly Road. Brookfield, WI 53005.
Tickets are just $5. There will also be snacks. All proceeds go to the Brookfield East Forensics Team.
If you are available and in the area, go out and see the show. It should be good and you end up helping a team out in the process – a win, win for everyone.
This post is to discuss various spring meeting proposals and reports. Proposals/Reports will be posted as they are submitted.
Reports
WDCA History Report – Doris Sexton, West Bend
2009 WDCA Season Survey Raw Data – Nick Bubb, Madison Memorial
2009 WDCA Season Survey Comments – Nick Bubb, Madison Memorial
Judge Certification Discussion – Dan Hansen, Mukwonago (document pending)
Ballot Tracking Initiative – Dan Hansen, Mukwonago (document pending)
Proposals
WDCA Paperless Barrier – Bill Batterman, Marquette (document pending)
WSDT Judge Preference Order – Tim Dale, UW-Green Bay (document pending)
Restriction on Maverick Debaters – Dan Hansen, Mukwonago (document pending)
This is a tentative calendar. I also posted a similar item on the WDCA website under the Spring Meeting thread.
May 7-8: WDCA Spring Meeting
September
10/11:
17/18:
24/25: Marquette (pending Greenhill) or Nicolet
October
1/2: Brookfield East (not at West Bend) or Nicolet
8/9: JMM (willing to explore. Move if others desire)
15/16: Mukwonago / La Crosse Central (not sure which weekend)
22/23: La Crosse Central / Sheboygan North?
29/30:
November
5/6: West Bend
12/13: Waukesha South/North?
19/20: Sheboygan South.
December
3/4: Appleton East
10/11:
17/18:
January:
7/8:
14/15:
Other information:
Greendale willing to host a Friday only no frills tournament
Appleton West willing to host State
Cedarburg interested in hosting
Sheboygan North is interested in changing dates/changing the format of their tournament.
Rufus King is interested
State Representatives Nelson, Ballweg, Zepnick, Zigmunt, Kaufert, Hintz, Dexter, Pasch, Hebl, Turner, Berceau, Brooks, Black and Bernard Schaber; along with Senator Taylor have introduced a joint-resolution declaring April as Forensic month in the State of Wisconsin. A vote on the resolution is scheduled for next week Tuesday.
You can track the legislative history of the AJR-122 here.
A copy of the proposed proclamation can be found here.
Recently, Sheboygan North debater and orator Alice Zhao competed for the “Youth Nobel Prize” at the Intel Science Talent Search in Washington, D.C. In addition to earning 3rd-place honors in the People’s Choice Voting, she was one of only 40 finalists from around the country. For her efforts, she earned an iPod Touch, a laptop computer, and a significant scholarship contribution.
To attend the national contest, billed as the most prestigious science research competition for high school seniors, she had to rigorously defend her findings through her work as part of a research team at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Officially, her research abstract begins: “Gas dynamic spraying of nanoparticles is a direct fabrication technique for non-structured coatings and bulk parts without coarsening the nanoscale structure.”
According to Alice: “In super, super layman terms, we had to have very high temperatures and very high pressure” to spray very small particles onto metallic surfaces, “which is really hard to do.”
We here at WFD are all very proud of her. Please wish her continued success in the upcoming Badger State Science Fair in Madison and the International Science Fair in San Jose.
This message was shared with the WDCA Debate Coaches List Serv last week. It is being re-posted here to ensure that everyone knows of the award.
Hello Wisconsin Debate Coaches,
Preparations for the Titan Debate Institute are well under way! I wanted to update you about a few things. We are very excited to announce that we have received funding for two full scholarships for TDI from a former Wisconsin debater! This is in addition to the discounts/scholarships that the camp already has!
To apply for the full scholarships students need to do the following:
Although there are only 2 full scholarships available please encourage all your students to apply. The applications for the scholarships will help me determine who needs the other discounts I can offer the most.
Attached is a flier that contains general information about the camp. Deposits and applications are due on May 28th.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Douglas Roubidoux
Director of Debate
UW Oshkosh
Wisconsin Forensics Daily is proud to be able to share this breaking story, that will soon be available on both the WFCA and WHSFA websites. Both organizations for forensics in Wisconsin have put aside their different visions for the activity to focus on a common goal: eliminating arcane, strange, and duplicative forensics events. The proposals will be voted on at the WFCA’s 40th Anniversary Convention in Wisconsin Dells and the summer Board of Control meeting.
The proposal calls for the elimination of Group Discussion, Public Address, Moments in History, Special Occasion, Oral Interpretation of Literature, Farrago, Play Acting, Radio Announcing, Group Interpretation, and Demonstration Speaking.
“This proposal will streamline our events so that coaches and students can more effectively prepare for competitions,” said Steve Sexton, former President of the WFCA, a long-time advocate of downsizing the number of forensic categories. He continued, “These events needed to be removed. Does anyone even know what a Farrago is? This sweeping move will allow students to compete in the core categories of our activity.”
Supporters of the move have suggested that the eliminated events provide limited educational value that could be found in other events. Madison Memorial Coach Tim Scheffler said, “Group Discussion frequently is Group Think. All it takes is for one kid to introduce one bad idea and everyone agrees with it. I’ve judged discussions where students have advocated creating “special living areas” for members potentially dangerous ethnic groups and the lone dissenter was silenced when it was suggested his group could also be added to the final solution the group endorsed. It’s about time that event was eliminated.”
While supporters of the proposal are celebrating its passage, opponents are gearing up for a fight. “Outside the Beltway, the American people are very angry,” said Senator John McCain (R-AZ). “They don’t like it and we’re going to repeal this.” Whether Senator McCain was referring to this decision or another, was entirely unclear.
The Wisconsin Trophy, Awards and Recognition Association expressed dismay over the potential loss of Play Acting and Group Interpretation. “While we are sure Duo Interp as a discipline is a more challenging and rewarding form of acting and interp, the problem remains that tournaments only need to purchase two awards per finalist entry,” said organization spokesman Michael Isaacson. “With Play Acting and Group Interp, we could consistently count on tournaments over purchasing by as many as twelve trophies for each event, or adding an express supplemental order after the event is over.”
Several coaches have expressed concerns about losing Moments, Special Occasion, and Public Address because of the positive impact on student creativity. Ed Faulkner of Fox Valley Christian was particularly aware of what such a change would bring about. “If we don’t give our students specific topics to speak on, just think of all the crazy topics they could come up with in Four Minute and Oratory! Forcing students into those categories guarantees that students will be choosing subject matter meaningful to them in each and every round. Who wants students using this competitive format to learn how to research and articulate their thoughts on the issues truly important to their values and lives?”
Similarly, Waupaca coach Lyne Luce expressed concerns that, “without 20 events that appeal to every small niche, students are less likely to take advantage of the opportunity to double enter at state, which the WFCA will most certainly approve at the same meeting. This will hurt the ability for small schools to recruit kids to their program.” Not surprisingly, Brookfield East coach Mary Wacker disagreed. “I’m sick of losing to Memorial in Public Address. Let them try bringing it in Oratory instead,” she added.
The possible loss of Demonstration is not stirring up as much controversy as expected. Micah Herstand, the category’s 2005 WFCA State Champion noted, “The Demo Champ really isn’t a speaker. I can tap dance well while cracking a few jokes. For all intents and purposes, I was the State Champ in Tap Dancing. If it went away, people can still talk about their hobbies in Four Minute.”
Several WHSFA member schools are concerned that the proposals do not sufficiently recognize the recent requests by some WHSFA districts to do away with Extemp and Oratory. Barb Johnson of Crandon High School said, “If we are to get rid of old categories, we should eliminate Extemp and Oratory – they are the oldest. Getting rid of Oratory will resolve our long confusion as to whether this speech can be preformed with the use of notes. And Extemp is too hard for most students anyway.” These WHSFA members hope that Wisconsin can continue its 115 year history as a leader in Speech competition by leading the nation into a new Extemp and Oratory-free era.
Former coaches are even considering returning to Wisconsin to fight this change. Steve Thompson has mentioned that he is considering returning from Pennsylvania so that organizations can do what is right and finally add a unique event for every competitor. Among the events that are opponents are considering adding are: Oratorical Declamation, Original Comedy, and Coach Presentation – a new event where the high school students are done away with completely and the coach or judge preforms the selection the right way the first time.
Tim Scheffler and Bill Batterman contributed to this post.
Wisconsin Forensics Daily sends a very large congratulations to former Brookfield Central debater, Carly Wunderlich, (and her partner) for winning the National Debate Tournament.
Carly and her partner Eric Lanning defeated Northwestern University’s team of Fisher and Spies on a 5-0 decision. More coverage of the NDT can be found at Planet Debate.