Congrats to Sarah Taylor!!

Congratulations to KCP debater Sarah Taylor, who won the 5th place JV speaker award at tournament 4 today at Jones College Prep!! This is a tremendous accomplishment. Sarah has been one of the leaders on the team this season. As we continue to rebuild the program this year, it's a pleasure to have students like Sarah on the KCP Debate Team!

Informative Meeting For Parents 10/13 @ 5:15 pm

Attention Debaters and Parents:

There will be an informative meeting for both parents and students this Tuesday, October 13th at 5:15 pm in the library (Rm. 243 Media Center). I hope we can address all the issues I'd like to discuss in 30 minutes. I know everyone has a busy schedule. Topics that will be addressed include:

- What went wrong with the schedule at tournament 1
- The Chicago Debate League's attempt to prevent those mistakes
- What to expect from tournaments in the future
- This year's debate team schedule
- Parent involvement and parent judge training
- Question and answer session

I hope to see you this Tuesday, and I look forward to meeting you.
Sincerely,
Fonda Ginsburg

KCP DEBATE TEAM 2009-2010 SCHEDULE

KCP DEBATE TEAM
2009-2010
SCHEDULE

Regularly scheduled team meetings:
Mondays and Wednesdays 3:30-5:30 (Permanent Room TBA)
*Extra meeting times and dates will be announced
Requirements: At least 1 meeting per week. Attendance will also be required at mandatory tournament prep meetings the week before each tournament (Only for those debaters competing at that specific tournament).


Tournament Schedule:
10/2-10/3 Tournament 1 @ Morgan Park
11/13-11/14 Tournament 2 @Lindblom
12/4-12/5 Tournament 3 @Kelly
1/15-1/16 Tournament 4 @Hope
2/26-2/27 Tournament 5 @Schurz
3/12-3/13 ISTA Novice and JV State Championships (Palatine, IL)*
3/26-3/27 City Championships*
Requirements: You must compete in at least 3 tournaments (Tournaments 1-5)
*ISTA State Championships and City Championships are only for debaters who are selected to attend. The selection process will be based on your overall record.)


Chicago Debate League Student Seminars
(@ Roosevelt University, 430. S. Michigan):
10/17 10am-noon
11/7 10am-noon
1/9 10am-noon
1/30 12:30pm-2:30pm
Requirements: You will be required to attend at least 1 Saturday student seminar this year.

City Championships and Season Recap

Congratulations to the KCP Debate Team on a very successful season. The city debate championships are the biggest challenge of the season because all three conferences compete together in this one tournament. That includes competing against the Regional Circuit Conference schools who compete nationally against teams from all over the country. Those schools include Lane Tech, Whitney Young, Payton, Kelly, Morgan Park, and Northside College Prep.

Competing at the City Debate Championships this weekend, Varsity debaters Stephen Mack and Kendall Mason advanced with a 3-2 record to the octofinals. Although they lost in their octofinal round, Steve and Kendall lost to the top seed team at the tournament, which is one of the toughest teams in the entire Midwest. Congratulations to Steve and Kendall on their outstanding performance against this top contender!

Varsity debater Clarrissa McWoodson and former Junior Varsity debater LaDonna Miller finished with a 2-3 record. This was a great accomplishment because this was LaDonna's very first time competing at the Varsity level. Clarrissa argued exceptionally well against one of her bitter rivals from Harlan High School who is one of the top debaters in the entire league. Defeating him was a huge success!

Overall, the KCP Debate Team has a lot to be proud of this year. Here is a short recap of the season:

Tournament 1 Results:
1st Place JV Speaker- Kendall Mason
3rd Place JV Team- Kendall Mason and Jade Heard
6th Place Varsity Speaker- Jamar Garrett

Tournament 2 Results:
5th Place Varsity Speaker- Stephen Mack
12 Place Varsity Speaker- Kendall Mason
Quarterfinalists- Stephen Mack and Clarrissa McWoodson

Tournament 3 Policy Debate Results:
2nd Place Varsity Speaker- Jamar Garrett
3rd Place Varsity Speaker- Stephen Mack
Semifinalists- Jamar Garrett and Stephen Mack
Semifinalists- Kendall Mason and Brandon Paschal

Tournament 3 Lincoln Bicentennial Debates:
Finalists- Jamar Garrett and Stephen Mack
$500 Award Recipients- Jamar Garrett and Stephen Mack

Tournament 4 Results:
7th Place Varsity Speaker- Kendall Mason
Quarterfinalists- Kendall Mason and Clarrissa McWoodson

Tournament 5 Results:
2nd Place Varsity Speaker- Jamar Garrett
Finalists- Jamar Garrett and Stephen Mack
$250 Award Recipients- Jamar Garrett and Stephen Mack

Tournament 6 Results:
Octofinalists- Stephen Mack and Kendall Mason

KCP Debate Team in Chicago Debate Commission Article

KCP DEBATE GETS KUDOS IN THIS ARTICLE:

Although we were 2nd place, it is still some great positive exposure for our team!!

Conference "A" Champions

The "A" Conference Varsity Champion was the team of Michael Harris and Terrence George of Lincoln Park High School, who narrowly defeated the team of Jamar Garrett and Stephen Mack from King College Prep in the finals. The Top Speaker was Max Smith of the host Kenwood Academy and Jamar Garrett of King was Second Speaker.

The "A" Conference Junior Varsity Champion was the team of Jazz Craft and Stephanie Rogers of the Phoenix Military Academy who defeated Meagan Ponti and Robert Wietecki from Taft High School in the finals. The Top JV Speaker was Pauline Day from Lincoln Park.

Introducing Rose Martin

I'd like to introduce parents, administration, faculty, and other followers of this blog to our new Assistant Coach, Rose Martin. Rose is a graduate student at the University of Chicago- Booth School of Business. She debated in Atlanta, GA for 4 yrs at the national circuit level. We are very excited to welcome Rose to the KCP debate family!! She is a wonderful addition to the success of our team!

Tournament 5 Results

This past weekend, the KCP Debate Team competed at the A Conference Championships and finished extremely well. Seniors Jamar Garrett and Stephen Mack advanced to the final Varsity round. Although they lost to Lincoln Park in the final round, it was still a huge success. They won a finalist plaque, $250 each for finishing as finalists, and Jamar Garrett received the 2nd place Varsity speaker award.

In addition, freshmen LaDonna Miller and Tamir Williams finished with a 3-2 record and received their highest speaker points thus far. For the first time this year, LaDonna Miller placed as one of the top 15 Junior Varsity speakers. This is a wonderful accomplishment!

We are very proud of the entire team! Most are first year KCP debaters and are accomplishing some very difficult tasks and new challenges. Congratulations to all who competed this weekend!