Welcome

                                                                                                                                                UPDATE March 19, 2020

Students, teachers, coaches, and parents,

Greetings, and Welcome to the 2020 Ronald Reagan Great Communicator Debate Series ONLINE MidAtlantic Regional Qualifier.

Thank you for your patience as we work through moving all of our Regional Qualifiers to an online format. Please note change/updates below in CAPS.

Thank you for your patience as we work through moving all of our Regional Qualifiers to an online format. Please note change/updates below in CAPS.

The GCDS is a unique debate experience. It stresses the person-to-person communication skills that earned Ronald Reagan the title of The Great Communicator. The skill of being able to debate important issues civilly, with storytelling, personality, and wit is a skill described by our National Finalists as “real life, where people have to be able to understand you and your position.”  It is also the only debate scholarship tournament where all National Finalists receive an all-expense-paid trip for themselves and their chosen adult to Simi Valley, CA, and are guaranteed a minimum of $1,500 in college scholarships at the National Finals. A total of $50,000 will be awarded at the National Finals, running from July 23 – 26, 2020, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. AS OF 3-19-2020, NATIONAL FINALS ARE ON AS SCHEDULED.

Tabulation and scheduling will be online through Tabroom.com, which is free-to-you. Each student must be attached to a “school” account in tabroom, whether they are competing as part of a school entry or competing independently. Each student’s adult scorer/judge must be listed with that student as their “school coach” who will judge. Grous of students entering will need one adult scorer/judge for every two entries. If you are new to Tabroom.com, please reach out to me for assistance in setting up your account and getting you registered.

EACH STUDENT AND EACH JUDGE MUST ALSO CREATE A FREE ZOOM ACCOUNT. DUE TO COVID-19, THE ZOOM PLATFORM AND ONLINE BALLOTING THROUGH TABROOM WILL BE USED TO RUN THE TOURNAMENT. ALL COMPETITORS AND JUDGES WILL NEED A STABLE INTERNET CONNECTION WITH CAMERA (LAPTOP OR DESKTOP WITH CAMERA ON MONITOR OR EXTERNALLY ADDED). HEADPHONES WITH A MIC ARE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BECAUSE THEY REDUCE BACKGROUND NOISE WHILE USING ZOOM.

Best regards, and we look forward to seeing you at the MidAtlantic ONLINE Regional Tournament HOSTED BY Loyola Blakefield High School!

Charles Donovan                                                                    Christine Adams

MidAtlantic Regional Host                                                      GCDS Project Coordinator

Loyola Blakefield HS                                                              The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute

cdonovan@LoyolaBlakefield.org                                           cadams@reaganfoundation.org