Click on the above Masthead to see the Picture ArchiveA Word from the Czar
Apologies for the late posting of the November Newsletter. This break was taken up with writing college letters until four in the morning and making sure that my mentees were up to date on their college acceptances. So far, we have had early notification that Alexandra Xereas-Gonzales has been accepted to Randolph-Macon Women’s College with a $60,000 scholarship. Congratulations on our first acceptance! We’ve had a great season, so far. The best we’ve had. We just got back from Princeton (more on that in the next newsletter) and took our first National Sweepstakes. It’s been a great year.
Apologies for the late posting of the November Newsletter. This break was taken up with writing college letters until four in the morning and making sure that my mentees were up to date on their college acceptances. So far, we have had early notification that Alexandra Xereas-Gonzales has been accepted to Randolph-Macon Women’s College with a $60,000 scholarship. Congratulations on our first acceptance! We’ve had a great season, so far. The best we’ve had. We just got back from Princeton (more on that in the next newsletter) and took our first National Sweepstakes. It’s been a great year.
NoVaFL 2 (DC)
On November 10, 2004 the Randolph-Macon Speech and Debate team traveled to Springfield Virginia to compete in the Northern Virginia Forensics League (NoVaFL). Of the 18 schools with their 218 competitors, the R-MA team took away 22 awards.
Impromptu: 2nd Thom Cox, 3rd S.R. Hilliard
Domestic ExtempL 2nd S.R. Hilliard, 3rd Sean Dunaway, 5th Chris Cole, 6th Alyssa King
Foreign Extemp: 1st James Taafel, 2nd Thom Cox, 3rd Tabitha Allen, 4th Rachel Jackson
Original Oratory: 2nd James Taafel
Declamation: 1st Rachel Jackson, 6th Adam Wilson
Prose: 5th Sean Dunaway
Poetry: 1st Chris Olsen (tie), 1st David Tuck (tie)
Humorous Interpretation: 1st David Tuck
Dramatic Interpretation: 1st Justin Shipp, 4th Yuliya Orlova
LD Novice: 1st Christo Keshishian
LD Junior Varsity: 1st Harry Hixon
Student Congress: 1st Robert E. Snitchler
When first arrived on site, as always, the team found a room all to themselves. It was in here that the team started their vocal warm-ups. Interp captain David Tuck commented on the importance of these warm-ups saying, "Yeah, their a pain to do, but its an important part of the forensics experience." Vocal warm-ups do more then prepare a competitors voice, but also energizes the team. These exercise are a cornerstone in team unity building."
On the return trip to campus the debate-mobile made a dinner stop at a local McDonalds. Being so close to the GMU campus this particular fast food restaurant was sports themed. In addition to Yuliya Orlova realizing she had lost her script book for the first of many times, this restaurant had memories all on its own. Louie Armstrong commented that this McDonalds had in it vending machines that actually dispersed out DVD’s saying, "Finally a place to eat double cheeseburgers and watch Shrek 2 as the same time!"
At the close of this tournament, Thomas Cox advances to Triple Ruby.
Tournament Trouper Award: Yuliya Orlova
Tournament MVP: Rachel Jackson
Blacksburg Championship
On Friday, November 11th, 2004, the Randolph-Macon Speech and Debate team traveled to Blacksburg, Virginia for the 15th Annual Blacksburg State Invitatational. But it wasn’t till the next morning starting at eight o’clock that the Blacksburg Forensic Invitational Tournament began. In this tournament there were 18 schools and over 200 competitors. Out of these the R-MA team took home 16 trophies, including the number one prize: Grand Sweeps for the third year in a row.
Dramatic Interpretation: Yuliya Orlova, 2nd
Extemporaneous: James Taafel, 1st; Tabi Allen, 2nd; SR Hilliard, 3rd; Thom Cox, 4th; Chris Cole, 5th
Humorous Interpretation: David Tuck, 1st; Justin Shipp, 2nd
Impromptu: James Taafel, 1st; Thom Cox, 4th
Original Oratory: SR Hilliard, 1st; Sean Dunaway, 2nd
Poetry: David Tuck, 1st; Yuliya Orlova, 2nd; Chris Olsen, 5th
Prose: Justin Shipp, 2nd
Lincoln-Douglas Debate: Harry Hixon, 1st; Robert Snitchler, 3rd; Richard March, 4th; Alexandra Kysar, 5th
The story for this tournament began the day before any competition had even started. Because Blacksburg is over three hours away from Front Royal, the team had left early on Friday and were able to spend the night at the always accommodating and very (despite its name) roomy MicroHotel. The next day with the van loaded, pieces prepped, and hours of news programs watched it was time to set out for the tournament. Going into this tournament the team had known that this was not going to be just some walk thought the park, but in the end the practiced paid off with numerous wins and a very large point-spread for grand sweeps.
Unfortunately, the award ceremony began later than expected by over two hours. Resultantly, dinner at the Waffle House was pushed back until around nine o’clock that night. Plenty of time to rest, read ballots, and reflect on the tournament was given to the team. In one case, even allowing one LDer the chance to mathematically prove the Waffle House menu correct in it’s "Waffle House Facts." In which it stated that there are "3,538,944 ways to enjoy our hash browns" and "70,778,880 ways to enjoy our hamburgers."
After dinner, because of the changed schedule, the team was expected not to return to campus until after two o’clock a.m. Therefore to make sure everyone received the proper amount of sleep and a safe return, the decision was made to stay another night in a hotel. In record time seven rooms were reserved at the near by Holiday Inn Express. With only one the casualty of one broken vase (done by the Debate Czar in the team photo), a new amazing looking team picture was taken in the lobby featuring the team and all their new trophies. The next morning, after feasting on what is reported by the hotel’s brochure as "the worlds best cinnamon buns," it was time to return to campus, put away new trophies, and enjoys a free day. At the close of this tournament, Chris Cole advances to Double Ruby
Tournament Trouper Award: Sean Dunaway
Tournament MVPs: James Taafel and David Tuck
NoVaFL (Fredericksburg) Report
On November 17, 2004 the Randolph-Macon Speech and Debate team traveled to Falmouth to compete in the the Northern Virginia Forensics League (NoVaFL). Of the only 5 with their 36 competitors, the R-MA team took away numerous awards and, yet again, Sweepstakes.
Impromptu: 1st Tabitha Allen, 2nd S.R. Hilliard, 3rd Sean Dunaway
Declamation: 1st Tabitha Allen, 2nd Stephine Kharrs, 3rd Louie Armstrong, 4th Ryan Harris
Original Oratory: 1st Sean Dunaway, 2nd S.R. Hilliard
Prose: 1st David Tuck, 2nd Chris Olsen
Poetry: 1st David Tuck, 2nd Chris Olsen
LD Novice: 1st, Kevin Frei (tie) Spencer Dorsey
Additional Qualifier, Christo Keshishian
Additional Qualifier, Ben Cogswell
LD Varsity: 1st, Richard Marsh (tie) Harry Hixon
Additional Qualifier, Robert E. Snitchler
In sure to be what the smallest tournament of the year the R-MA team seemed to be competing against itself more then other schools. In a strange turn of events only 4 rooms were used, combining numerous events into one room. The most extreme case was when the completely unrelated events of duo interpretation, original oratory, and story telling were all put together.
Because this NoVaFL didn’t follow the rules of a normal NoVaFl the burn rule was applied. As a result of this, the team was able to use it heavy hitters with their largest pieces. It was because of this that the team not only was able to easily receive grand sweeps, but also gained more on tournament experience and practice with the base pieces that will carry the debate bus all the way to nationals.
At the close of this tournament, Alexandra Kysar and Chris Olsen advanced to Sapphire and Varsity.
Tournament MVP: Richard Marsh, Harry Hixon
Tournament Trouper Award: Yuliya Orlova
WACFL 2 (IE/LD) Tournament Report
On November 20, 2004 the Randolph-Macon Speech and Debate team traveled to Fairfax Virginia to compete in the Washington-Arlington Catholic Forensic Individual Event Tournament I (WACFL IE I). The R-MA team took away 13 awards.
Oral Interpretation: 1st, David Tuck ; 2nd, Yuliya Orlova
Original Oratory: 1st, SR Hilliard ; 2nd, OO Sean Dunaway
Declamation: 1st, Tabi Allen; 3rd, Louis Armstrong; 4th, Ryan Harris
Extemporaneous: 3rd, Tabi Allen; 4th, SR Hilliard
Lincoln Douglas Debate 2nd, Spencer Dorsey; 5th, Harry Hixon
1st Speaker: Harry Hixon
Additional Qualifier: Richard Marsh
Sometime it is for the best of the team that a student must give of him or herself. Even if this should mean take a day off from the much-looked-for-and-anticipated vacation. This tournament was just one of those cases. The turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing had to wait for this WACFL was on the first day of Thanksgiving break. "Sometimes it’s about more then just worrying about your grade and stepping up to help out not just the team, but the school." Said Kevin Frei, who had to stay on the R-MA campus an extra day.
Again these personal sacrifices pay off, because again the R-MA team did not only take home another grand sweeps title, but had for the first time many of its newest novices medal. One of these team mates was Ryan Harris who when asked about winning for the first time looked straight forward trying to think of a response while snapping his fingers said, "It feels really great. I know that I did my part and if feels good to get rewarded for it."
Trouper Award: Chris Olsen, Tabitha Allen, Thom Cox, Richard Marsh, Spencer Dorsey
MVP in Debate: Spencer Dorsey
MVP in Speech: David Tuck
Christmas Hopes and Desires
Well, as another tax year draws to a close and as we look for creative ways to contribute, we’d like you to think of the RMA Speech and Debate Team. And, in reality, our biggest need and our most heart-felt desire is for a new debate bus. A minibus that can seat 25 students and holds a luggage bay would be about the right idea. Our 1984 Debate bus has about 167,000 miles on it and, though has gotten us to tournaments, is getting somewhat difficult to start and forces us to find as many flat-land routes as possible. A used minibus runs between $14,000-$20,000. Any leads that any of our parents has on a company that would like a large tax deduction through a donation would be greatly appreciated. But, if you don’t have any leads, any contribution toward the bus – in terms of new paint and any reformatting of seating – would be great. When I was a pastor, I always was told that contributions came through button-holing people and arm-twisting. I never believed in that and still don’t. I prefer to lay out our needs to our parents and allow them to make their own decisions. The debate webpage, http://debate.rma.edu/ has the link to the Boosters Page for more information.
November Magnificent Seven
The NFL point totals for the second season are in and here’s the NFL Magnificent Seven Point Leaders for RMA Speech and Debate:
1st Place... SR Hilliard, 135 points in the Second Season... 970 overall
2nd Place... Tabi Allen, 126 points in the Second Season... 1003 overall
3rd Place... Sean Dunaway, 124 points in the Second Season... 1217 overall
4th Place... Richard Marsh, 117 points in the Second Season... 681 overall
5th Place... David Tuck, 110 points in the Second Season... 901 overall
6th Place... David Tuck, 110 points in the Second Season... 901 overall
7th Place... David Tuck, 97 points in the Second Season... 1261 overall
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