Cyclone Alert on the National(s) Radar!

The debate team competed in the National Forensic League West Oklahoma District tournament this past weekend, March 7-9, at the University of Oklahoma. This tournament was the qualifier for the annual NFL national tournament, to be held this year in Birmingham, Alabama in June. Four Casady policy teams competed in the district tournament, all of whom finished with winning records. Ultimately, the team of Connor Dube' and Olivia Pribich proceeded through seven rounds of this double-elimination competition and won their final round to qualify for nationals with a 6-1 overall record.

Connor and Olivia are the first Casady team to qualify for the NFL national tournament in our three years of existence as a program. This is an incredible accomplishment for a number of reasons. We are only in our second year of having a varsity level squad, so our team is very young. Additionally, Connor and Olivia are both second-year debaters. The other two teams who qualified were seniors from Moore High School and Heritage Hall. Finally, this year's district tourney was the largest in the history of our district; 33 teams competed in policy debate, so the field was quite a challenge.

Connor and Olivia have traveled extensively to compete on the national circuit this year, and the high level of competition at tournaments like Greenhill, St. Mark's, UT Austin, Montgomery Bell Academy, Heritage Hall and Harvard has helped them learn and develop steadily in this extremely difficult activity.

Casady's two other varsity teams competing were Eihab Khan and Natasha Spicer, and Adam Hassoun and Sidney Jones. Also impressive was our novice team. The policy division combines all policy debaters into one group, rather than dividing them into varsity, JV, etc. Our freshman team of Conner Coles and Fiona Rendon finished with a 3-2 record against primarily varsity debaters.

Connor and Olivia have also been accepted to compete at the National Debate Coaches Association national tournament, to be held in Nashville, TN in April. Go Cyclones!

The Harvard Report

This is rather a late posting, so I do apologize.... we've been a little busy getting qualified for nationals!!! (More on that shortly...)

Our team motto has always been, "we're not always sure how we get there, but somehow or other, we always get there!" It took multiple planes to get us to Boston for the Harvard tournament, in addition to a wide array of transportation infrastructure -- planes, trains, and automobiles -- but we made it, and so did the bad weather! Whether trudging up Massachusetts Avenue in the bitter, icy wind with snow blasting our bare eyeballs in the middle of the night, or rushing from round to round in the blustery blizzard conditions, the weather treated us to some fantastic endurance challenges during our five-day stay. Through it all, we managed to debate thirteen rounds (and judge sixteen!) against 300 policy teams from across the country. Race and disabilities were the topics of choice for most teams, so we debated critical arguments on both sides of the flow practically the entire time! While our varsity only managed to win two rounds, the experience was invaluable in preparing them for the nationals qualifying tournament (more on that shortly...). The novi boys competed in JV, which was comprised of teams from the novice to the varsity level who were not competing in varsity. They handled the challenge respectably, finishing with a 3-3 record for the boys and a 2-4 record for the girls. Great job everyone!

We got to spend one day be-bopping around Boston, shopping for Harvard souvenirs, sampling the fare at Faneuil Hall Market, exploring the glass flowers and amazing fossil skeletons at the Natural History Museum, and experiencing the olfactory joys of the open-tank Boston aquarium. We also improved our mass transit skills through many and many a subway ride, and we ate more lobster and seafood than we care to record here!

Many, many thanks go out to the Rendons, Mrs. Kirk, and Dr. Chakraburtty for accompanying us on this incredible adventure! From your help in navigating the city, to providing much-needed sustenance in between rounds, to making a special trip to Copley Square for a new Mac charger to replace mine that suddenly decided to quit on me -- we couldn't have done it without you!!

The jury is still out on whether to brave Boston again next year or aim for a milder clime in the direction of Berkeley.... as always, I'm sure I will let the kids decide!