Congrats on an amazing weekend!

This past weekend in Okoboji we qualified eight people to compete at the NSDA's Nationals in Dallas which will be June 14 through 19.  We also had many students in the final rounds of events!

Andy Anderson – National Qualifier in Public Forum
Jacob Appel – 2^nd  Alternate in International Extemporaneous Speaking
Ted Appel – National Qualifier in Public Forum, 1^st Alternate in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
Mary Beth Armstrong – 3^rd Alternate in Policy Debate
Akanksha Chilukuri – National Qualifier in Public Forum
Regan Copple – 2^nd Alternate in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
Daniel Drane – National Qualifier in Int'l Extemporaneous Speaking
Nour Harzallah  – National Qualifier in Dramatic Interpretation
Elena Hildebrandt – National Qualifier in PF
Wyatt Johnson – 3^rd Alternate in Policy Debate
Ellie Konfrst – National Qualifier in Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
Jade Miller – 4^th Alternate in Original Oratory
Jane Rice – 2^nd Alternate Humorous Interpretation
Jacob Thompson – 1^st Alternate in Int'l Extemporaneous Speaking,  2^nd Alternate in Original Oratory
Rachel Wade – National Qualifier in Dramatic Interpretation, 2^nd Alternate in Duo Acting
Claire Wallace – 2^nd Alternate in Duo Acting

I am incredibly proud of these hardworking students and their event coaches.


Looking Ahead!
This weekend (2/20-22) our policy teams are headed to Iowa City for the Kanellis National Invitational at Iowa City West. Thank you to Mrs. Appel for being willing to drive them to Iowa City!

Also - this upcoming Friday (the 20th) is the Roughrider Roundup which is a great way for us to reach incoming 8th graders! We especially want our 9th graders to be involved -- recruit, recruit, RECRUIT! :)

The next entire-team tournament is the IFL All-Iowa Finals. This tournament is considered our state championship and is  held in Iowa City at the University of Iowa. Students can compete in both speech and debate in the same weekend. We will leave Thursday March 5 and return late Saturday March 7. More info will be posted soon.

Sometime in the weeks surrounding spring break up to 11 people can travel to compete in the District's Qualifier for Congress. (The date is still up in the air due to scheduling issues at the host school.)

The last tournament for the regular-season is the Great Midwestern Novice & JV Debate Championships which... surprise!... is held in Iowa City. This is a debate only tournament which means we will only be competing in Policy, Public Forum, LD, and Congress.

Once all tournaments are over we still will be "doing speech and debate." There are middle school programs to help, banquets to plan, recruiting to do, and national tournaments to prepare for!

And finally, for this post anyway, students should be looking at attending speech and debate camp. It is incredibly important that students continue to hone their skills over the summer and camp is the best way to do that. The most crucial years for attendance are early in a student's speech and debate career.  The coaches and I will host a meeting for the parents to further explain the value of camp, provide information and suggestions, and answer any questions.

Whew! Long and exciting post! Thank you for all your support of the students and the team! Lets end this year with a bang!
- Mrs. McCool