Corey Barwick is Wisconsin State Champion

MILWAUKEE, WI - We may have been a tad premature in noting that Minnesota would award the first varsity state title of the season. Liz Vieira has just reported in with the results of this season’s thirty-third annual Wisconsin Debate Coaches Association Tournament of Champions was held on December 9 and 10, 2005. In the final round, Appleton East High School’s Corey Barwick defeated Hortonville High School’s Jennifer Harrington on a 3-0 decision to claim the state title.

Corey is coached by Mike Traas. Jennifer is coached by Kristi Plamann.

At the tournament, Merrill High School coach and WDCA past president Nathan Hanson was recognized as the association’s Coach of the Year. Congratulations!

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Crystallize: Kids in the Hall

Welcome back to “Crystallize,” even though it’s not the regularly scheduled day for this particular feature. Each Sunday and Thursday, I have the chance to post a humorous image from the VBD backfiles and turn to you, dear readers, to provide original, creative, and mirthful (or even witty!) captions right in the comments. If you have an image that’s just begging for exposure here on VBD, send it my way!

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Attention VBI Tour in NYC Students

Hi everyone:

This announcement is for students attending the VBI Tour location in New York City. As you should all have been made aware a few days ago, the site for the Tour has changed from the Bronx High School of Science to CSAIR Adath Israel Synagogue. The new location is easily accessible, including by public transportation (for more information, see the CSAIR web site).

Students attending the Tour in New York should plan on arriving at the site tomorrow morning between 9:00 and 9:30. After registration and some breakfast, lectures will begin at 10:00. Please feel free to e-mail me with any last minute questions.

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Grappling the Two-Point Speech

In the final Estuary of the year we will broach a topic rarely discussed in the extemp world: the two-point speech. The dominant wisdom is so disproportionately oriented toward the traditional three-pronged speech that attention is rarely paid to the other main alternative. Consider this piece a follow-up to my January 16 article, “Beyond Getting Your Bearings.”

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Introducing the Victory Briefs Exchange

SANTA MONICA, CA - Every day we receive dozens of emails from individuals looking for coaches, judges or information about tournaments. While we are always happy to help people connect to exchange information, sometimes things go under-addressed simply because of the number of requests. This is why we have created The Victory Briefs Exchange, located online at www.thevbexchange.com.

The VB Exchange is currently hosted by Ning, a company working to build “Craigslist”-like applications for communities outside of those serviced by Craigslist. We have been working to try to make the process to register and post as seamless and easy as possible. Right now Ning is handling all of the registration process. In the near future, Ning will become virtually invisible on the site.

Because we want people to register and use The VB Exchange, we will be doing a weekly drawing for $15.00 Best Buy gift cards. So what are you waiting for? Explore, register, connect, exchange!

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2005 in Review: The Season’s Midway Point

In the first of a series of end-of-year retrospectives here on VBD, I’d like to take a few moments to review the season thus far, focusing on the accomplishments of a variety of students.

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Picturing a Whole Lot of Tournaments

NEW YORK, NY - When not playing the part of the Victorian invalid, I will have a lot of time on my hands this afternoon, so stay tuned for images!

Pictures from the Alta Silver & Black Invitational (courtesy of Greer Feick and Melissa Schall) and the College Prep School Invitational (courtesy of Lexy Green) have been uploaded. A large set of pictures from the Princeton Classic, courtesy of Anjan Choudhury, are forthcoming, and once they are sent, we’ll have pictures the Dowling Catholic Paradigm, courtesy of Michael O’Connell.

So, unfortunately, I was unable to take photos at the Blake School’s Edie Holiday Tournament. If, however, dear reader, you took some such pictures, please do send them my way. (Andy Charrier has already donated one!)

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