The Rushmore Challenge

Harrisburg High School

Friday and Saturday, February 11-12, 2022

The Harrisburg High School Chapter of the National Speech & Debate Association would like to invite you to the Rushmore Challenge Debate and IE Tournament at Harrisburg High School on Friday and Saturday, February 11 & 12 2022. 

The following information on events, divisions, fees, judges, schedules, and awards is probably not complete – please ask if you have questions and I will clarify!

Friday, February 14 Speech and Student Congress

Humorous, Duo, and Dramatic Interpretation

Domestic, and Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking

Original Oratory

POI,  Informative Speaking and Student Congress will also be offered

• Please provide one judge for every 5 entries or fraction thereof in all speech categories..
• Student Congress will be offered Friday & Saturday!
• For Student Congress, please provide one dedicated judge (not in any other pool) for every school entry. It doesn’t matter how many Congress people you enter you just need 1 judge commitment for the school. After the rounds are paneled, any judge who is not assigned will be put into the speech pool
• There will be three rounds of speech events with finals.
• All events should be memorized.
• We will follow NSDA rules for all events.
• D Ex and F Ex.  Seven minutes maximum speech time; 30 minutes prep time.
• Interp, Info and Oratory have a 10-minute time limit.
• There are no entry limits.
• We don’t have any judges to hire at this point.  

DEBATE on Saturday, February 12

Lincoln-Douglas Debate – Varsity and Junior Varsity – Five rounds of preliminary competition and breaking to quarters.

Public Forum Debate – Varsity and Junior Varsity – Five rounds of preliminary competition and breaking to quarters.

• All topics will be the current NSDA topic. Which is the January/February topic for LD and the Febrauary resolution for Public Forum
• We will follow NSDA rules for all events.
• A guest Wi-fi Internet connection will be available.
• No Entry limits. You must bring judges to cover your obligations.

REGISTRATION

We will be using the tabroom.com website for registration this year.  If you have questions, please contact me via email: patrick.pope@k12.sd.us  I can also be reached on my cell phone (605) 376-0667.  ENTRIES ARE DUE Wednesday, February 9, at 10:00 pm.

FEES

·      Entry fees are $15 for Public Forum & Lincoln Douglas Debate events and $8 for Speech and Student Congress events. 

·      Missing judge fees are $100 for PF and Speech per day.

·      Make checks to:

Harrisburg High School Speech and Debate.

C/O Speech and Debate Team

JUDGES

We don’t have any judges to hire at this point..  Please cover your slots and let us know if you have any extra judges for any division that another school may hire. 

We will be using online balloting for all rounds.  Please have your judges register for a tabroom account for notifications and ballots.

SCHEDULE

Rushmore Challenge 2022 Schedule

Friday

Registration opens at 1:45

General Meeting – 2:30

Extemp draw 2:45

R1 all IE's & Congress 3:15

Extemp Draw 4:15

R2 all IE's 4:45

Extemp Draw & Congress 5:45

R3 all IE's 6:15

Extemp Draw for finals at 7:15

Finals all IE’s 7:45

Awards - approx. 9:00 pm or as soon as possible.

Saturday 

PF & LD

8:00 – PF/LD Rd 1

8:30 – 10:30 Congress Session 1

9:00 – PF/LD Rd 2

10:30 – PF/LD Round 3

11:30 – 1:30 Congress Session 2

12:00 – PF/LD Round 4 

1:30 – PF/LD Round 5

2:30 – 4:30 Congress Session 3

3:00 - PF/LD Quarters

4:00 – PF/LD Semis

5:00 – PF/LD Finals

6:00 – Awards

Release schedule

The Congress docket will be released on Monday, January 31. If you wish to submit a piece of legislation to be considered it must be submitted by Friday, January 28^th .

The list of Extemp Questions will be released on Tuesday, February 8.  If you wish to submit a question to be considered it must be submitted by Friday, February 7^th .

Concessions

They will be available throughout the weekend at HHS.  We do not have credit card payments available currently.  All purchases must be in cash.  There is an ATM located on campus, in the main commons.

Covid-19 considerations. 

It is highly recommended that all attendees wear a mask when not actively eating/drinking or presenting in competition.  

AWARDS

The top six finishers in speech events and congress will receive an award; quarterfinalists in debate will receive an award.

 The top three Class AA and top two Class A schools will receive a sweepstakes trophy.

The Rushmore Cup will be “presented” to the NSDA district earning more points throughout the tournament.

Other Events

In addition to our tournament, there are Basketball games both Friday and Saturday, a Chili Feed on Friday, and the ACT on Saturday.  We need to stay in the designated areas for our tournament and make sure that everyone is quiet going to and from rounds, especially Saturday morning.  We know that our students are respectful, but reminders never hurt.  We will review all of this at general meeting on Friday. Thank you in advance for making sure that all teams follow this. 

DIRECTIONS – the official HHS address….

Harrisburg HS

1300 W Willow St

Harrisburg, SD 57032

School will still be in session as you are arriving, so please follow these guidelines for parking and entering the building:

·       The parking map is here.

·       We have a new bus drop-off and parking lot behind the school. Please drop off students at the entrances behind the Performing arts center (marked in Yellow). Buses and cars should park in this lot, as well.

·       There are bus parking spots as marked on the map. 

·       Please DO NOT use the main entrance to the school.

·       Please plan to arrive before 2:45. Even if you think you won't interfere with our buses, traffic is a serious issue. If you have not arrived by 2:45, it is unlikely that you will get inside before 3:15.

• School is dismissed at 2:58. All students need to stay in the PAC until after General Meeting.

Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.  We look forward to seeing each of you in February at Harrisburg!