Louisiana District Qualifier

for the 2021 National Tournament

Congress Information

The Louisiana District will hold the National Qualifier for Congressional Debate on Saturday, February 27.

NSDA members from Louisiana are encouraged to compete at the tournament even if they are unable to attend the National Tournament in June.

Every school may register up to two students in the Senate. The number of House entries is based on your chapter size. The entry screen should show how many House entries you are permitted. To increase your House delegation, you can increase your chapter size by being sure that (1) all memberships have been paid, (2) students have created accounts on the NSDA website (separate from tabroom), and (3) students have earned at least 25 points and point entry is up to date.

If we have at least 6 schools registered for the Senate, we will send TWO students to Nationals.

If we have 30 or more students registered for the House, we will send FOUR students to Nationals.

Legislation: we use the Jan/Feb packet on the LHSSL website

Docket:
Session 1 - B1, B11, R7, R14, B13. They will be debated in the order listed. No amendments are permitted.
Session 2 - B6, R2, R5, B2, B18. They will be debated in the order listed. No amendments are permitted.

Authorship: we do NOT recognize authors. The first affirmative speaker will be determined based on precedence and recency, the same method used to determine all other speakers.

No student POs: the adult parliamentarians will serve as PO. Because we expect some of the parli's to be affiliated with a competing school, they will not submit ranks

Senate: all Senators participate in both sessions. Final placings are based on the ranks submitted by all scorers. Top 2 are National Qualifiers.

House: all Representatives participate in the first session. We will advance a pre-set number (based on chamber size) to the second and final session. Final placings are based on the ranks submitted by scorers in the Final Session. If we have at least 30 in the House, top 4 are National Qualifiers. If 29 or fewer, top 2 are National Qualifiers.

Scorers and Parliamentarians:

Last updated: Feb 25 at 2:30 pm

Scorers:
Michael Dubose - former competitor and assistant coach at Riverdale (LA), attorney in the NO/BR area
Ashlyn Jones - former competitor at Comeaux (LA), current collegiate competitor at Western Kentucky
Shawn Nix - co-director of speech and debate at Cary Academy (NC)
Lee Parker - former high school competitor in Florida, former collegiate debater at Tulane, works at Epic Systems in Madison, WI
RJ Pelliciotta - co-director of speech and debate at Cary Academy (NC)
Alejandro Perez - former high school competitor at Comeaux (LA), current collegiate competitor at Bradley University (IL)
Stanley Taylor - former competitor at Ben Franklin (LA), senior site director at Year Up New York New Jersey
Betsy Tontiplaphol - former competitor in San Antonio, current British Literature professor at Trinity University
Eliana Wackerman - former high school competitor in Colorado, current law school student at LSU
Ryan Ware - former competitor at Pineville (LA), current Methodist minister in Virginia
Tess Welch - former competitor in Houston, current competitor at Western Kentucky
Russell Wilder - former collegiate competitor at LSU, current teacher at Success Academy in New York

We will use school-provided judges where possible

Parliamentarians:
Lynn Beeson - assistant coach at Newman, experienced parliamentarian
Liz Brusseau - assistant coach and former competitor at Ben Franklin, current high school teacher
Emily Donaldson - former competitor and NSDA National Finalist at Durham Academy (NC)
Katie McKenzie - former competitor and state champion at Teurlings Catholic, current collegiate debater at Louisiana Tech

We may also share some judges with the Tarheel East District. They are holding their Congress on the same day. Some of these judges may be judging the Tarheel East District and some of their judges may be judging the Louisiana District.

Schedule:

Session 1: 9:00 am - 11:30 am

Session 2*: 12:30 pm - 3:00 pm

All those in the Senate will compete in both sessions. In the House, we will "break" a preset number of students from Session 1 to Session 2. We will announce the National Qualifiers as soon as possible after the conclusion of Session 2.

Sessions will be virtual and synchronous through Zoom rooms.

Link to Congress Chambers:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89058376510?pwd=WnpqVmxzMjh4UkpRTlVWdjZlcTYxdz09

If you have questions, please read the Unified Manual. For questions not addressed in the manual, please contact Greg Malis, District Chair.