Chesapeake District Tournament
2021 — MD/US
Chesapeake District Qualifier
for the 2021 National Tournament
Chesapeake District Newsletter #2 (12/22)
2020-2021 NSDA CHESAPEAKE DISTRICT NEWSLETTER #2
December 22, 2020
Dear speech and debate colleagues,
Happy holidays!
This was certainly a calendar year that none of us could have predicted or expected. But you individually and collectively rose to the challenge and kept this activity running strong, in ways that were impossible to envision last December. Your flexibility, creative thinking, and embrace of new technologies ensured that our students’ voices would not be silenced. There is much to be grateful for!
Welcome to Our New Schools! … The Chesapeake District would like to extend an especially warm to welcome to three schools that are joining us for the first time in 2020-21: St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, Melvin J Berman Hebrew Academy, and Gerstell Academy! We are so glad to have you with us!
District Tournament Update … The NSDA has mandated that all District Tournaments this year be held virtually. Extemp and debate events will still be held live on Saturday February 20th, as originally announced last spring. Other speech events will run asynchronously, with judging of videos occurring from Wednesday February 17th to Saturday February 20th. Congress and Big Questions will be held live on Sunday February 21st. Registration will open on January 1st, and further details will be forthcoming on the tournament webpage: http://chesapeake.tabroom.com. For our newer schools. the District Tournament is the qualifying tournament for NSDA Nationals in June -- the largest academic competition in the country. Only NSDA member schools and students may register for the District Tournament.
Membership List To Date … Thank you to the following schools who have already completed NSDA membership for 2020-21! If you don’t see your school on this list, visit https://www.speechanddebate.org/signup/.
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Albert Einstein HS, MD |
National Cathedral School, DC |
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Archmere Academy, DE |
Northwood HS, MD |
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Arundel HS, MD |
Notre Dame Prep School, MD |
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Baltimore City College HS, MD |
Oxon Hill High, MD |
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Bethesda Chevy Chase HS, MD |
Reservoir HS, MD |
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Cab Calloway School Of The Arts, DE |
Richard Montgomery HS, MD |
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Calvert Hall College HS, MD |
Rockville HS, MD |
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Catonsville HS, MD |
Sherwood HS, MD |
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Centennial HS - Ellicott City, MD |
Springbrook HS, MD |
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Charter School Of Wilmington, DE |
St Andrew's Episcopal School, MD |
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Clarksburg HS, MD |
Stone Ridge School Of The Sacred Heart |
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Damascus HS, MD |
Thomas S Wootton HS, MD |
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Eleanor Roosevelt HS, MD |
Tower Hill School, DE |
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Gerstell Academy, MD |
Towson HS, MD |
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Howard HS, MD |
Walt Whitman HS, MD |
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James Hubert Blake HS, MD |
Walter Johnson HS, MD |
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John Carroll School, MD |
Washington International School, DC |
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Loyola-Blakefield HS, MD |
Wilde Lake HS, MD |
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McDonogh School, MD |
Winston Churchill HS, MD |
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Melvin J Berman Hebrew Academy, MD |
Woodrow Wilson HS, DC |
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An Invitation to Join the NSDA … For schools on this mailing list that are not currently members of the NSDA, you are cordially invited to join the Association! As the largest speech and debate organization in the world, the NSDA offers numerous and valuable benefits to students, coaches, and schools alike. To learn more about NSDA benefits, or to join the NSDA, please visit https://www.speechanddebate.org/membership/. Schools and individual students must be registered NSDA members to attend the District Tournament and the National Tournament.
Get Those Points Recorded! … Every round of competition that one of your students competes in, and every speech and debate service project that they complete, earns them points towards Honor Society Degrees. All of these points should be recorded by clicking “enter points” in your school’s menu bar. Recording points in your school’s record has come a long way … gone are the days of collecting all the paper ballots and entering every students’ ranks, one by one. While you are still welcome to record points that way, most tournaments these days are tabulated electronically, and will allow you to auto-post results by clicking a button. As students earn more points, they earn more prestigious degrees in the Honor Society. The more total degrees your school has, the more entries your school will be able to bring to the District Tournament in February. And as your students reach higher and higher degree levels, they will become eligible for special awards such as Academic All-American, and have a stronger story to tell on college applications. Make sure that your students’ points are up to date so that they don’t miss out on these opportunities!
Additional Upcoming Events …
3/27 Reagan Great Communicator Debate Mid-Atlantic Qualifier: http://reaganloyola.tabroom.com/
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute founded this event to develop engaged, informed, and conscientious citizen leaders that can effectively use logic, evidence, and personality to communicate ideas. The top two finishers in this event will qualify for the Great Communicator Debate National Championship in July and receive an all-expenses paid trip to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Southern California, as well as a scholarship for college. Registration is open now! For more information, visit https://www.reaganfoundation.org/education/scholarship-programs/great-communicator-debate-series/
Best wishes to you and your teams as 2020 wraps up and 2021 begins!
Sincerely,
Charles Donovan
Chesapeake District Chair, on behalf of the District Committee