Welcome to the annual CCIU Middle School tournament, to be held May 16 at  TCHS Brandywine at the CCIU in Downingtown PA.  This tournament is open to all middle schools in Chester County.  If you are from another county but would be interested in attending this tournament in the future, please send an email to suehayes1@gmail.com.  We are assessing whether there is sufficient interest to open the tournament up to a broader audience next year.

The tournament will be held at TCHS Brandywine this year The main CCIU building sits in front of TCHS Brandywine along Boot Road. Please have your students enter the main CCIU building labelled entrance B. The person at the desk will direct them to the cafeteria. The address of the CCIU is 455 Boot Road, Downingtown, PA 19335. The event begins promptly at 9:00 a.m., so please plan to have everyone there at 8:30 a.m. Remember, they will need to bring lunch.

THE UMBRELLA TOPIC IS SPACE EXPLORATION.

Umbrella topic:  Space Exploration

(Students involved in the Poetry, Prose, and Declamation events do not have to stick to this topic but are encouraged to do so.)

Debate topic: Resolved:  Private sector investment in human space exploration is preferable to public sector investment.

Discussion topic:  Should mankind establish a colony on Mars by the year 2030?

We will be eliminating the Extemporaneous event this year and replacing it with Impromptu Speech.  Below is a list of areas that the impromptu topics may address:

-Protecting satellite assists

-High Altitude Electronic Magnetic Pulse

-Space Shuttle

-Deep space - How far is too far?

-Asteroid mining

-Space tourism

-Law of the sea applied to space

Round 1:  All events    9:00

Round 2: All events    10:00

Round 3: All events    11:00

LUNCH:  11:45-12:30

Finals:  All events       12:45

Awards:                     1:30

Depart:                      2:00

THIS YEAR ALL EVENTS WILL HAVE 3 PRELIM ROUNDS.  BASED ON PRELIM RESULTS, THE TOP 6 IN EACH EVENT WILL ADVANCE TO THE FINAL ROUND.

Students will not be double-entered.  There will only be 6 students in a room and they will be expected to remain in that room throughout the round and listen to the other competitors.  Judges will judge at least 3 rounds. Coaches will be part of the judging pool.  If you have more than 4 competitors in an event, you will need to bring a judge.  Judge training will occur at 8:30 AM to review the PHSSL ballots that are now being used.

More updates will be posted here.

Sue Hayes

Tournament Director

610-3388-2886

suehayes1@gmail.com

Eileen Helm Weaver, Ed.D.