Speech and Debate 2017

Noah had another successful year competing with NCFCA.  This group of people is really starting to feel like family.  We attended seven tournaments this year - four regional qualifiers (Hattiesburg, West Monroe, Birmingham and Cleveland), one national open (Asheville), one regional championship (Memphis), and one national championship (St. Paul).  Since each tournament takes at least three days not including travel time, that means we are at competitions about a month of every year.  Wow, now that I add it up no wonder the people seem like family!

Noah competed in four prepared speech categories (Illustrated Oratory, Open Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, and Original Interpretation).  He also competed in all three limited prep categories - Apologetics, Impromptu and Extemporaneous.  He also participated in Lincoln Douglas Debate - the topic this year was rehabilitation vs. retribution in the criminal justice system.  We were fortunate to have a coach for our debate team that was a homeschool mom but also a lawyer and former member of the counter terrorism unit of the FBI in NYC (I just had to include that because some people think most homeschool moms never finished college or majored in home economics).  I helped out with our local team by coaching Apologetics.  I really enjoyed it but was sort of glad I could prepare outlines without having to actually be judged on my delivery.

I took way too many photos to include them all.  I shared a lot on our Region VII FB page.  Here are some highlights.  If you want to watch Noah's speeches, you should jump to the bottom.  I highly recommend his DIY speech and his Duo, which is hilarious!

Most of our local team:

Noah and his duo partner, Jessica.

Noah waits to debate:

That awkward moment when you have to debate your Duo partner:

Noah judges the juniors:

Some cute juniors from our club:

50's-themed Regional Championship social in Memphis:

My Apologetics students won 1st and 2nd place at Regionals!

Noah wins 1st place in Illustrated Oratory:

Noah and Jessica win second place in Duo:

This meant that Noah qualified to give these two speeches at the National Championship at St. Paul, held at the campus of Northwestern University.

I never get tired of seeing Noah all dressed up:

Our three Guardian Club members that qualified for Nationals:

But it wasn't all about the suits and ties.  There were socials and sightseeing.

Carnival:

Minnehaha Falls:

Iconic artwork:  

Cathedral of St. Paul:

Lego version of St. Paul:

Capital of Minnesota:

And last but not least, the Mall of America:

Now for those speeches that he worked so hard on: