Los Alamos: Speech & Debate preformance invitation

INformation via LA-Homeschool@yahoogroups.com

April 7, 2008
by: Mariah Harrison

The Jemez Mountain Home-school Speech and Debate Team is at it again.
Throughout the course of the year these avid "speechies" have been
arduously working to do their best at every tournament they attend.
Small in size, but big in heart, the Team, which is comprised of
students from Los Alamos and surrounding areas, has put that heart
behind all of their efforts and has been blessed with individual and
team recognition throughout the competitive season.

The Team competes with the best and the brightest speech and debate
enthusiasts from public and private high schools across the state as
part of the New Mexico Speech and Debate Association. For each of the
last four years, this dedicated team has walked away from the New
Mexico State Tournament with one or more State Championship titles,
numerous runner-up titles, as well as team recognition. 2008 was no
exception.

The 2007-2008 Varsity Squad includes Katelynn Bond, Paul Zimmerman,
Andrea Cherne, Jonathan Kressin, William Kressin, Harry Green, and
Mariah Harrison; on the JV are Matthew Davenport and Levi Vixie. The
Team is coached by Carolyn Connor with assistance from Andrew Green,
and Team alumnus and National Forensic League Academic All-American
Michael Zimmerman. This year the students have participated in
Student Congress, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Duo Interpretation, Humorous
Interpretation, Oral Interpretation, Original Oratory, Impromptu,
Expository, and Foreign and Domestic Extemporaneous speaking.

At the 2008 New Mexico State Tournament which was held on the ENMU
campus, the following awards were given to this dedicated team:
leading the team's phenomenal efforts to become great speakers,
Jonathan Kressin earned the State Championship title for the second
year in a row in Oral Interpretation; In Original Oratory, Bond earned
a respectable second place; in International Extemporaneous Speaking,
second and third place were earned by Harrison and Bond, respectively;
in Expository, Green took second place, and William Kressin achieved
third place; In Duo Interpretation, the team of Bond and Harrison
earned third place; Bond and Jonathan Kressin advanced to finals in
Student Congress, and Zimmerman and Green advanced to the final round
in Humorous Interpretation and International Extemporaneous Speaking,
respectively. Honorable mention goes to Andrea Cherne for her
dedication and hard work throughout the year and great attitude
supporting her team. All of these students are grateful to God for
what they have been able to accomplish.

In addition to the individual honors earned, the Team earned first
place in Limited Entry Sweepstakes, Second Place overall behind
Albuquerque Academy in speech events, and Third place Overall
Sweepstakes behind Albuquerque Academy and just eleven points behind
Eldorado High School's second place finish.

At the National Qualifying Tournament, held on April
3-5 at Albuquerque Academy, the team stood strong and had a finalist
in every event they entered. In fact, many of the Speechies were 2nd
or 3rd runner ups to the national qualifiers. They were not at all
disappointed with the outcome and thank God for the opportunity to
have had such a wonderful year in competition.

Three members of the team are graduating
seniors this year: Jonathan Kressin, Katelynn Bond, and Andrea Cherne.
Although this loss will be felt immensely, the Team is looking forward
to a strong finish and to a successful upcoming year.

To celebrate their strong finish the team is performing a Night of
Delight from 6:00pm-9:00pm at the New Beginnings Fellowship on April
27, 2008. They hope you will all come and join them in closing their
season with a bang.