The NFL Qualifiers
It’s January, prep time for the NFL. Football and forensics. The Patriots earned their berth in the national spotlight. Now top competitors at Newton Country Day School are focusing on two February NFL events, all-day National Forensics League Qualifiers that could possibly earn them a berth in a national competition.
The combined Speech and Debate National Qualifiers will be held on February 4 for the National Forensics League and on February 11 for the National Catholic Forensics League. The team has not yet competed in the NFL Championships but three-year team captain B. Seiler ’12 and M. Joy ’11 (Fordham ’15) competed in the NCFL Competition in Omaha in 2010.
A strong senior foundation of experienced debaters is a talented and determined force that has inspired more than twenty underclassmen to join their ranks and compete in a variety of Speech and Debate forums. With seven tournaments behind the 2011-2012 Sacred Heart team, members have earned a total of seven bids to the State Tournament, four medals, and six trophies. Excitement for the NFL Qualifiers is palpable!
Forensics in the Fall
At the first Speech tournament held October 29 at Dighton-Rehoboth, C. Geary ’12, a four-year competitor, entered Poetry Reading (a 10-minute dramatic presentation of a single or of multiple published poems with a common theme) and Impromptu (the contestant has six minutes to prepare and present an oral commentary based upon a topic drawn at random). In Impromptu she won her first bid to States, medaled as a top seventh finisher in a field of 35, and received an outstanding first place and a perfect 100 for speaking points in preliminary rounds. Moving on to the Natick Gracia Burkill Memorial Tournament on November 12, Geary won her second and final bid as a State Impromptu qualifier and, among 25 competitors, took a fifth place trophy.
A week later, the Debate team competed in the “Little Lexington,” a Public Forum event that engaged 74 teams. PFD is a pairs event whereby the team advocates or rejects a given resolution through effective persuasion and presentation of quality arguments. It was M. Delaney ’12’s first tournament. Paired with B. Seiler ’12, a seasoned debater of four-years, the duo took four of a possible five wins and 12th place. They earned their first bid to States and new-comer Delaney earned points for NFL Merit status.
December – an Impressive Month!
On the first weekend of the month, C. Geary ’12 hopped a plane for the Patriot Classic National Tournament in Fairfax, VA where she had attended the George Mason Forensics Camp over the summer working on Poetry Reading and learning the art of using the manuscript. “At the Patriot Classic, there were 100 school teams from Alaska to Maine, and 1,600 entries. I competed in Poetry Reading with 176 competitors and received thirds in preliminary rounds. In Impromptu, with 115 competitors, I qualified as a quarterfinalist,” says Geary, the first Newton student to “break” at a national tournament. A week later she competed in the same events at Lincoln-Sudbury.
The December 15 Holly Tournament at Natick was a great event for the Newton Country Day teams.B. Seiler ’12 and L. Richmond ’12 entered Group Discussion. Competitors worked in advance on premises around the discussion topic, “Waiting for Superman,” a book about America’s failing education. Seiler won First Place, the only competitor of the 70 to take a first place in all five rounds. She also scored a perfect 100 in speaking points – the second team member to earn a perfect 1/100. Richmond, at her first competition, scored a bid to States by placing in the top third of the field. An impressive duo!
C. Vickers’12 entered Prose Reading, her first event of the year, and C. Geary ’12 entered the Pentathlon, a goal she held from her earliest days in Speech and Debate. It was a grueling day for all 15 pentatheletes who competed in a total of 201 event-rounds. Geary medaled for participating in Poetry-Reading, Dramatic Performance, Impromptu, Storytelling, and Press Conference where she was handed data on a randomly selected Republican Presidential candidate and had to prepare and deliver a two-minute speech on the candidate and answer questions from the judges.
Six freshmen enter their first Speech competition at the Holly Tournament. I. Capeci ’15, J. Stevenson ’15, and C. McNally ’15 all medaled as a TV News Team. In this event, the trio prepared a five-minute broadcast of news, weather, and sports. Judges consider delivery as if the presentation were being broadcast on a television screen. A. Hawkins ’15, M. Bisson ’15, and J. Jackson ’15 entered the Multiple Reading competition where they performed a 12-minute storyline taken from “The Happy Club.” The natural talent of Newton’s newest competitors bodes well for Speech and Debate.
Second at the Safari
To kick off the new year, Newton South hosted an African Safari themed Speech and Public Forum Tournament. At the end of the Public Forum preliminaries with 54 teams going head-to-head in crossfire, B. Seiler ’12 and M. Delaney ’12 held a 4-0 score and a fourth seed position for the debate finals. They closed the tournament in second place! Competing in Impromptu where she earned another bid to States, C. Geary ’12 also entered Storytelling. Earning five second place ranks in the six rounds, she won a third place trophy.
Notching “Big Lex” Points
“The ‘Big Lexington’ Debate Tournament on January 13-15 brought in teams from 86 schools across 16 states. Ninety-two Public Forum teams, including top debating schools such as Bronx Science, Stuyvesant, and Delbarton, debated a very relevant topic, ‘The Cost of a College Education Outweighs the Benefits,’” says B. Seiler ’12. She and M. Delaney ’12 were double-octfinalists and finished the tournament ranked sixth among the 40 participating teams from Massachusetts. The points from their wins boosted Delaney to NFL Honor status (75) and Seiler to NFL Special Distinction status (500+).
Including the February National Qualifiers and the March 31 State Finals, the Sacred Heart team that has grown to 25 members will participate in greater numbers at three more tournaments: the January 28 Revere “90’s Flashback,” the March 3 Shrewsbury Mardi Gras, and the March 17 Needham “March Merryness.” It continues to be an exciting and successful year for the Newton Country Day NFL team!