First, another reminder to please be cognizant of your outstanding balances on Infinite Campus. We still have a significant amount of unresolved fees, and they've definitely added up over the year!
Second, regarding Nationals and ToCs: the relevant fees will have to be paid before departure. I should have both tournaments priced out with an itinerary by the beginning of next week. For non-graduating families, it is possible that this will affect how you want to pay your fees--that's fine, but regardless of your account balance going into these tournaments, the eventual posted fees must be paid before we leave.
On that note, we are exploring the possibility of busing with other Des Moines area schools to Nationals. Upon further review, it's entirely possible that the cost of going to Florida for a week will actually be higher if we fly--we would need at minimum 3 parents or 25+ chaperones (As of now, the only person who would qualify for this that is attending would be Chase) in order to manage transportation upon arrival. This means we would have to rent at least 3 cars, and arrange these additional hotel rooms and flights. It's possible that this is not within our budget, and we certainly can't expect parents to take a week off of work to come to the tournament and be a glorified taxi driver. I will determine our transportation plans for Nationals by Friday.
On a more positive note, and with the regular season of the Speech and Debate year drawing to a close (Only Congress and BigQ qualifiers remaining!), I thought it'd be nice to reflect on everything we've accomplished this year (there's a lot!). This can serve as a reference point for anyone who asks about the successes we've accumulated as a team, listed by tournament. All told, we've competed at almost 30 tournaments this year, tournaments with representation from all 50 states and at least two other countries. The opportunities we have had this year have been incredible, and we should be eternally grateful to the district and administration for being as supportive of us as they have been. We are very fortunate to have received the funding that we have--most programs receive none. With that said, here is the return on that investment:
Iowa (Important: Roosevelt won all sweepstakes awards at the major Iowa tournaments. This is a very rare feat):
Simpson Storm:
2nd in Dramatic Interpretation (DI)
2nd in Humorous Interpretation (HI)
1st in Informative Speaking (Info)
1st/2nd in Spontaneous Speaking (Spont)
2nd/3rd in Extemporaneous Speaking (Extemp)
3rd/4th in Congressional Debate (Congress)
1st/2nd in Public Forum (PF)
North:
1st in Spont
1st in Extemp
1st/2nd/3rd in PF
2nd in Policy
Finalist in Congress
2nd in Debate Sweepstakes (Sweeps, which is a ranking of overall performance by schools)
Tournavelt:
1st/2nd in Original Oratory (OO)
1st in DI
3rd in HI
1st/3rd in Extemp
East:
1st in Info
1st in OO
5th in Congress
Bettendorf:
1st in DI
3rd in Extemp
5th in HI
Johnston:
1st/2nd in HI
1st in OO
1st in Spont
2nd in Extemp
2 Finalists in Congress
Lincoln:
1st/2nd in Info
2nd in Spont
2nd in DI
1st/3rd/5th in Congress
3-1 Maverick in PF (Not allowed to advance to elimination rounds)
IHSSA:
1st/2nd/2 additional Finalists in Congress
Medal of Recognition in Congress
1st/2nd/3rd/top 16 in PF
1st/2nd in Policy
1st in Sweeps by the largest margin in IHSSA history
Districts:
11 Qualified to Nationals (And winners in 4 events!), in:
1 DI
1 Info
1 OO
4 Extemp
1 PF
1 Policy
1st in Speech Sweeps, Debate tentative(!)
IFLs:
4th in DI
2nd in HI
4th/5th in Info
1st/6th in OO
1st/2nd/3rd/5th in DX (Domestic Extemp)
2nd/3rd/5th/6th in IX (International Extemp)
1st/3rd/4th/6th in Spont
4th/5th in Poetry
1st/2nd/3rd/5th/6th/7th/8th and an additional Finalist in Congress
2 Semi-finalists, 1 Quarter-finalist, and 1 Octafinalist in PF
1 Semi-finalist in Policy
1st in Speech AND Debate Sweeps
Nationals (Important to note: we have accumulated 30 bids to the Tournament of Champions this year on the National Circuit, spread across almost 15 kids. That's MASSIVE--the rest of the state of Iowa COMBINED barely surpasses this total):
University of Kentucky:
Top 32 finish in PF
Valley:
2nd in the PF Round Robin
Top 4 and top 16 finishes in PF
Top Speaker Award in PF (it's basically a handmade, large, wooden sledgehammer. They're pretty nice)
New Trier:
Top 32 in Policy
Apple Valley:
2 Finalists in Congress
Top 16 in PF
Top 32 in PF
3 Top 10 Speakers in PF (Including first!)
University of Michigan:
4-3 in Policy
Badgerland:
Top 4, 8, and 16 finishes in PF
Glenbrooks:
Semifinals in Congress
Top 32 in PF
...and a number of competitors impossibly close to advancing, such as:
1 rank from elimination rounds in Info (the difference of getting a 3 instead of a 4 in ONE round),
5-2 and 4-3 finishes in PF,
and a few close rounds of Policy...
GMU:
6th and Quarterfinalist in Info
6th in Extemp
Top 16 in PF
Top 32 in PF
Finalist and Semifinalist in Congress
Dowling Paradigm:
6th/Semifinalist in Info
8th/11th (Finals) in Congress
Top 8 and two Top 16 Finishes in PF
Blake:
3-0 start in Policy (Until one of the competitors lost her voice... :( )
2 top 32 finishes in PF
2 Semifinalists in Congress
3rd/4th/6th in Extemp
Sunvitational:
6th in the Extemp Round Robin
Quarterfinalist in Extemp
Quarterfinalist in PF
Emory:
Top 64 in PF
Marshall:
5th in Extemp
Semifinalist in Info
6th in Novice HI
Evanston:
Champion in Public Forum
Top 2 speakers in Public Forum
Harvard:
Octafinalist in Info
Quarterfinalist in Congress
Top 64 in Public Forum
Millard North:
5th in Congress
2 Quarterfinalists in PF
2nd in the PF Round Robin
