Chesapeake District Qualifier

for the 2020 National Tournament

Chesapeake District Newsletter #2 (12/10)

2019-2020 NSDA CHESAPEAKE DISTRICT NEWSLETTER #2

December 12, 2019

Dear speech and debate colleagues,

Happy holidays!

The Chesapeake District would like to extend an especially warm to welcome to two schools that are joining us for the first time in 2019-20:  Odyssey Charter School and Oxon Hill High School!  We are glad to have you with us!

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!  The NSDA is an organization that does a LOT more than just hosting NSDA Nationals at the end of the year.  As the largest speech and debate organization in the world, numerous benefits exist for students, coaches, and schools alike.  An abundance of support and resources such as program-building materials or competition videos or fundraising materials or online databases, eligibility to participate in the District and National tournament, ability to earn individual or school awards such as Honor Society Degrees or District Student of the Year or Leading Chapter Award, professional development opportunities, and regular newsletters from the NSDA are some of the many benefits.  One great testimonial from a Chesapeake coach on of how the NSDA can make a difference for you:  “About a month ago, the NSDA sent a letter to my principal, informing him of a special recognition that our program received.  Much to my surprise, he read the letter aloud at an entire-school assembly, and congratulated the team.  Later that week I had several students show up at practice that had not thought about joining speech and debate before.  This is just one example of how NSDA’s support of our program has been a huge help!”   To learn more about NSDA benefits, or to join the NSDA, please visit https://www.speechanddebate.org/membership/

Get Those Renewals In!  … The number of qualifiers that Chesapeake can send in each event to NSDA Nationals depends on the number of total paid member schools in the district.  Last year, Chesapeake was one of the largest districts in the United States, with 41 paid schools.  This made Chesapeake a Level 3 district, which means we were allowed 3 entries per event at NSDA nationals.  To date, we have only 29 paid schools, which are listed below.  If you do not see your school on the list, please visit http://www.speechanddebate.org and renew (or join for the first time!) as soon as possible!  The district needs to get to 40 paid schools to maintain Level 3 status for 2021 … if we drop to Level 2, this means that 15 fewer outstanding students from Chesapeake schools will get the chance to represent the district and compete at Nationals in 2021.  Don’t let them down … renew or join today!  Thank you to the following schools who have already renewed membership for 2019-20!

Woodrow Wilson HS - Washington, DC, DC

Winston Churchill HS - Potomac, MD, MD

Wilde Lake HS, MD

Washington International School, DC

Towson HS, MD

Thomas S Wootton HS, MD

Stone Ridge School Of The Sacred Heart, MD

St Marys HS, MD

Springbrook HS, MD

Sherwood HS, MD

Saint James School - Hagerstown, MD, MD

Rockville HS, MD

Richard Montgomery HS, MD

Reservoir HS, MD

Oxon Hill High, MD

Odyssey Charter School, DE

Notre Dame Prep School, MD

Northwood HS - Silver Spring, MD, MD

Montgomery Blair HS, MD

Loyola-Blakefield HS, MD

John Carroll School, MD

James Hubert Blake HS, MD

Howard HS, MD

Clarksburg HS, MD

Centennial HS - Ellicott City, MD, MD

Calvert Hall College HS, MD

Bethesda Chevy Chase HS, MD

Arundel HS, MD

Albert Einstein HS, MD

Get Those Points Recorded!  … The NSDA determines the strength of its schools by the number of Honor Society Degrees that its students and coaches hold.  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.  Make sure that your students’ points are up to date so that they don’t miss out on these opportunities! 

District Tournament Dates … As announced last winter, the 2020 Chesapeake District Tournament will be on Saturday February 22^nd at Loyola Blakefield High School in Towson.  Speech, debate, and congress events will be held on that date.   Registration will open on January 1^st, and further details will be forthcoming.  The district tournament is the qualifying tournament for NSDA Nationals -- the largest academic competition in the country -- which will be held in Albuquerque in June.   The Big Questions Debate NSDA qualifier will be held on Sunday February 23^rd, also at Loyola Blakefield.  For more information on the Biq Questions format, visit https://www.speechanddebate.org/big-questions/   

Other Upcoming Open Events Hosted by Chesapeake Schools …

1/18-19 DC Winter Classic Public Forum Debate @ Holy Trinity School

3/21  March Madness 2020 Public Forum Debate @ Landon

3/28  State of Maryland Speech and Debate Association Championship @ Loyola Blakefield

4/4  Reagan Great Communicator Debate Mid-Atlantic Qualifier @ Loyola Blakefield

Best wishes to you and your teams as 2019 wraps up and 2020 begins!

Sincerely,

Charles Donovan

Chesapeake District Chair, on behalf of the District Committee