SENIOR OF THE YEAR VOTING

Ten amazing Iowa seniors have been nominated for the IFL 2020 Senior of the Year. Below, find a list of the seniors along with the nomination messages submitted for each. Once you have read and considered, head coaches only (or their designate) can click the link to vote. Each team can submit ONLY ONE VOTE.

Link to voting:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3HNX2C8

Olivia Appel, DM Roosevelt HS

Olivia Appel is one of the busiest high school seniors I have ever met. Speech and Debate is not the only extracurricular she is involved with, yet she makes carrying foam boards round to round look effortless. She takes pride in being Roosevelt Speech and Debate, and her enthusiasm for tradition, legacy, and community is what keeps our entire team of baby novices and returning varsity students together. I sincerely believe with a double-sided tape, velcro, and access to a 24 hour FedEx Kinkos, Olivia Appel could accomplish just about anything. (And...this doesn't seem like a big deal, but I'm telling you it is: she's a large part why we have had any successful student council-coordinated activities this year at TRHS. Our bulletin board hadn't been changed in four years until Olivia. Enough said.) 

Alyssa Beckwith, Southeast Polk HS

The Southeast Polk debate team is proud to nominate  Alyssa Beckwith from Southeast Polk for Senior of the Year. Alyssa Beckwith is a kind, compassionate, hardworking, and focused debater. Her work ethic, good character, and team leadership makes Alyssa an outstanding and deserving candidate. 

Since joining the program her Junior year she has continued to progress and grow not only as a debater but as a leader. Alyssa found her true calling in Public forum debate and began to see success primarily on the local circuit. Throughout her time on the debate team, she received the role as team captain.  During this time she has continually worked with novices and helping them when they need it,  she has organized extra practices, and has been someone team members can talk to. 

Despite the time commitment she has made to debate she continues to contribute to her community through volunteering at different community events. Alyssa exemplifies what it means to be a debater, leader, and all-around good person. So it is with great pleasure the Southeast Polk Debate nominates Alyssa Beckwith for Senior of the Year. 

Ellis Chen, Iowa City - City HS

I’ve coached the Iowa City HS debate team for ten years and have known Ellis for three years. Ellis joined debate late in his sophomore year and quickly picked up the basics. Within the first three months of joining the team he and his partner Simon qualified to NSDA nationals in policy debate.

Throughout his junior year it was hard to believe Ellis was only starting his second year in debate. Working with Simon they managed to defeat many highly skilled teams and learned a lot about high level varsity debate. Ellis and Simon advanced to elims at the Dowling tournament and set their sites on winning tournaments as seniors. After returning from camp last fall it was apparent the Ellis had absorbed everything he had learned and that he and Simon were well on their way to achieving big things.

This year, he’s taking college classes and high school classes while competing at a very high level in policy debate. He reached quarterfinals at the Niles Township Invitational and was the tournament's top speaker.  He reached reached elimination rounds at every tournament but Greenhill. He and his partner have gone on to win four tournaments: the Iowa Caucus, John Edie/Blake School, and Kanellis Invitational tournaments as well as acquire seven Tournament of Champions bids, breaking a school record.  His team is currently ranked ninth in the United States. 

He is a team co-captain and provides a lot of help coaching and writing files for our first and second year debaters. He maintains good grades and understands that the balance of his academic efforts should always tip toward his course work. He has helped build a community of policy debate in Iowa and beyond. He helped judge at Bettendorf this year and really enjoyed providing feedback to novice debaters just beginning their debate journey.

Ellis is deserving of the IFL's Student of the Year Award without reservations.

Ethan D’Alessandro, Iowa City - West HS

Ethan has been in debate since middle school. He has grown tremendously in Policy Debate qualifying for the TOC this year as a senior. He has maintained a 4.0 GPA and has been an honors/AP student all of high school. Ethan has been a team leader and a wonderful competitor. A respectful student and partner, he has demonstrated the work ethic and dedication it takes to become a winner. He has overcome the adversity of a coach switch and partner search. He has maintained a positive attitude after losses and learned how to make the best out of a tough situation. Ethan has the most upstanding character and is surely deserving of senior of the year.

Lauren Gilbert, West Des Moines Valley HS

Lauren Gilbert is one of the most talented debaters I’ve ever been privileged to work with. She is kind, hard-working, and absolutely dedicated to debate and our team. She is very successful competitively, having won multiple local and national-circuit tournaments in her five years in debate. She attended the TOC as a junior and we expect she will attend again this year. She is also a great mentor for younger debaters. She is a member of Women In Debate, a volunteer program that provides mentoring to debaters on under-resourced teams. She also dedicates significant time to the Valley program, working with younger debaters. 

Whitney Lester, Sioux City - East HS

Whitney Lester is the Sioux City East High Debate Captain. She has given her all to building a very strong debate team. Every Monday and Wednesday from September-March, Whitney is a leader during our debate meetings by taking the time to do one-on-one work with novice and varsity debaters. She also works very hard to find and help students create pieces and takes time to work with each student on delivery of that piece.  Whitney has many achievements including multiple first place wins, this will be the third year she will be going to Nationals (Worlds, Duo, HI) , and has achieved Superior Distinction in the NSDA. Whitney is also an Academic All-American in the NSDA!!!

               Whitney is a natural leader. In all extra-curricular activities in which she is involved, she is a leader and is a great member of the team. In IHSSA speech, Whitney has been to All State multiple times. She has been in multiple theatre productions at East High I have directed. She is a member of Headliners, the prestigious show choir at East High. She is also in Dance, National Honor Society, Golf, and is a manager for the Cross Country team. She positively affects all activities she is a part of and pushes her peers to do their best work.

               Whitney Lester is an amazing leader and role model at Sioux City East High. Staff and peers look to Whitney as a positive presence at our school. She always goes above and beyond in all activities in and out of the classroom. She challenges herself and other students around her to achieve their best. At every Debate tournament, and Speech Tournament she represents the Sioux City District with positive choices, leadership abilities and a great personality.  I am so proud of Whitney and her many achievements for our Speech and Debate team and her academic achievements in school. She is an incredible student, competitor, and person. Please consider Whitney Lester for Senior of the Year!

 Marissa Kuiken

Jocelyn “Mo” Marks, DM Roosevelt HS

I could speak on Mo's accomplishments, her awards, her merit points, and other quantitative factors, but I'd like to nominate her for senior of the year based on her commitment and love for the program. Mo Marks is an example of going "all in" on something you strongly support. When we thought she had appendicitis the night before Nat Quals, I was convinced she would show up with an IV line in the prep room. Yes, Mo Marks is a good speaker, but I'm very happy to know that she's a good peer who puts her whole heart into a program that she just wants to share with others. Trophies, plaques, bids will eventually go away with time, but being a simply rad human being who wants to continually learn and share that love of learning with others? Priceless. 

Isabella Nadel, West Des Moines Valley High School

Bella is an amazing debater and an incredible young woman. She began debating in fifth grade when, having skipped grades, she was NINE YEARS OLD. Her first ever competition was the spring junior high debate meet, and she was in semifinals. Since then she’s grown into a fierce advocate, incredible debater, and indispensable leader on the Valley debate team. Bella participates in a volunteer program, Women In Debate, that provides mentoring and guidance to womyn debaters from programs that have few or no coaching resources. Like all of our leaders, she spends a ton of time working with younger debaters. And Bella is a bright, friendly, uplifting student who is a pleasure to coach. She is also very competitively successful. She has accumulated four TOC bids and will attend this year for her second time. 

Dashiell Weinhardt, Dowling Catholic

I am excited to enter Dashiell Weinhardt’s name for consideration for The Iowa High School Forensic League’s Senior of the Year Award.  Dashiell has been an active non-stop participant in Policy Debate for each of his four years of high school.  You cannot spend any significant time with Dashiell, without having him regale you with thoughts on various arguments, stories of tournament results for events far and wide, or his describing a a college debate he just watched on YouTube. (The only exception to this is the possibility that at that moment he is talking about the NBA or video games)

Dashiell never ceases to work on improving his skills and work for the team.  If you were a Dowling Catholic student and had any interest in learning more about Policy Debate or participating in it Dashiell would do anything he could think of to get you to come play this game. And once you were on board, no one would work harder to try and help you succeed.

He has all the activity accolades that students nominated here do;  2 time National Qualifier, TOC Qualifier, multiple successes at local regional and national tournaments, over 1500 NSDA points, etc. 

Debate has been THE defining activity of Dashiell’s years in high school and I am thrilled to offer this support for his work.

Timothy E. Sheaff, Head Coach

Simon Weiss, Iowa City - City HS

I’ve coached the Iowa City HS debate team for ten years and have known Simon for six years. Since junior high Simon has demonstrated his proficiency in both classwork and extra curricular activities, including debate and band. As a freshman he won several tournaments and earned many speaker awards. As a sophomore he attended the NSDA National tournament in policy debate.  As a junior he had a breakout year, defeating several top-notch opponents. 

As a senior he’s taken college classes and high school classes while competing at a very highest level in policy debate. He reached reached elimination rounds at every tournament but Greenhill. He and his partner have gone on to win four tournaments: the Iowa Caucus, John Edie/Blake School, and Kanellis Invitational tournaments as well as acquire seven Tournament of Champions bids, breaking a school record.  His team is currently ranked ninth in the United States.  He has won a speaker award at nearly every tournament he's attended.

He is a team co-captain and provides a lot of help coaching and writing files for our second year debaters. He attends every practice and contributes greatly to the success of our team. He attended a tournament at North HS to help mentor his novices. More importantly, he maintains good grades and understands that the balance of his academic efforts should always tip toward his course work. He cares not just about himself but the community, helping our friends at IC West and lifting up everyone around him.

Between his success, his positive outlook, and willingness to help, Simon is deserving of the IFL Senior of the Year Award without reservations.