Apologetics
15th - Ruth Owen
14th - Ryan Anderson
13th - Sarah Chaffee
12th - Eric Knopp
11th - Sara Winslow
10th - Justin Knopp
9th - Ezra Stockton
8th - Samuel Wolkenhauer
7th - George Nye
6th - Rachel Aldrich
5th - Lauren Reavely
4th - Lauren Miller
3rd - Quinton Cools
2nd - Colin Scott
1st - Samuel Paul
Duo Interp.
14th - Ariel Strom / Tianna Strom
13th - Shelby Bennett / Will Kearney
12th - Ethan Gratias / Jessica Gratias
11th - Aaron Paul / Samuel Wolkenhauer
10th - David Kruse / Destiny Kruse
9th - Matt Jackson / Benjamin Winslow
8th - Elijah Owen / Ruth Owen
7th - Stephanie Emmons / Jeremy Sumpter
6th - Devin Kruse / Emma Kruse
5th - Amie Anstett / Samuel Paul
4th - Alexa Sleadd / Caleb Sleadd
3rd - Isaac Arthur / Reid Arthur
2nd - Sarah Aldrich / Macaela Bennett
1st - Anicia Miller / Aundra Miller
Extemporaneous
7th - Andrew Bell
6th - Bradford Keaty
5th - John Elliot Chaffee
4th - Sarah Chaffee
3rd - Samuel Wolkenhauer
2nd - George Nye
1st - Samuel Paul
Impromptu
16th - Connor McMurray
15th - Creighton Deems
14th - Macaela Bennett
13th - Justin Knopp
12th - George Nye
11th - Lauren Reavely
10th - Dane Anderson
9th - Lauren Miller
8th - Andrew Janzen
7th - Alexa Sleadd
6th - Sarah Aldrich
5th - Sarah Chaffee
4th - Eric Knopp
3rd - Marie Jeffries
2nd - Colin Scott
1st - Samuel Paul
Original Oratory
8th - Benjamin Winslow
7th - Andrew Janzen
6th - Macaela Bennett
5th - George Nye
4th - Rachel Aldrich
3rd - Jessica Gratias
2nd - Ezra Stockton
1st - Samuel Paul
Sweepstakes
5th - Stephanie Emmons
4th - Alexa Sleadd
3rd - George Nye
2nd - Colin Scott
1st - Samuel Paul
Team Policy
1st - Samuel Paul / Samuel Wolkenhauer
2nd - Chris Riegg / Elisabeth Wolcott
3rd - Amie Anstett / Patrick Loftus
4th - Eric Knopp / Lauren Miller
5th - Ben Edmonds / Isaac Harris
6th - Bobby Grey / Clayton Hess
7th - Quinton Cools / Kenny Handgartner
8th - John Elliot Chaffee / Sarah Chaffee
Team Policy Speaker
8th - Chris Reigg
7th - Patrick Loftus
6th - Ted Bradley
5th - Samuel Paul
4th - Quinton Cools
3rd - Sarah Chaffee
2nd - Kenneth Hangartner
1st - Samuel Wolkenhauer
Lincoln-Douglas
8th - Matthew Holst
7th - Stephanie Emmons
6th - Isaac Simpson
5th - Marie Jeffries
4th - Alexa Sleadd
3rd - Colin Scott
2nd - Emmett Armstrong
1st - George Nye
Lincoln-Douglas Speaker
8th - Collin Quaid
7th - Creighton Deems
6th - Sarah Holst
5th - Stephanie Emmons
4th - Josiah Bryan
3rd - Marie Jeffries
2nd - Colin Scott
1st - George Nye
Basic Theology, Charles C. Ryrie
Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem
Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin
Theological Dictionary
Theological Encyclopedia
Commentaries
Matthew Henry
Other resources
Sermons/Collections of Essays
The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis
The Everlasting Righteousness, Horatius Bonar
Catechisms
Westminster
Belgic Confession
Heidelburg
Devotions
Of the Imitation of Christ, Thomas A’ Kempis
Daily Readings from C.S. Lewis, C.S. Lewis
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers
Morning and Evening, Charles H. Spurgeon
Other books
New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell
McHenry’s Quips, Quotes and Other Notes, Raymond McHenry
The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer
Seven Men who Rule the World from the Grave, David Breese
The Universe Next Door, James W. Sire
The Fallacy Detective, Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn
C.H. Spurgeon
C. S. Lewis
Thomas a Kempis
R.C. Sproul
J.I Packer
Greg Koukl
Lee Strobel
John Calvin
Wayne Grudem
Jonathan Edwards
John Bunyan
A.W. Tozer
Martin Luther
Oswald Chambers
Greg Bahnsen
Some of the apologists have been asking about higher and lower criticism. I found an excellent article with a nice clear definition of these terms. The article is an explanation of why 1 John 5:7-8 is different from the modern translations in the King James Bible. Click this. Textual Criticism Article
Let me know if you have any problems accessing this article.
Brad McMurray
APOLOGETICS
1st- Lauren Miller
2nd- Sarah carter
3rd- Lauren Reavely
4th- Kaila Anderson
5th- Kira Clark
6th- Alexa Sleadd
7th- Natalie Emmons
8th- Sarah Chaffee
Semi-finalists: Colin Scott, Daniel Beasley, Lacey Scott, Quinton Cools, Ruth Owen, Sara Winslow, Stephanie Emmons, Tait Deems
IMPROMPTU
1st- Colin Scott
2nd- Sarah Chaffee
3rd- Kira Clark
4th- Alexa Sleadd
5th- Lacey Scott
6th- Brendan Claffey
7th- Tait Deems
8th- Sarah Carter
Semi-finalists:
Andrew Bell, Dane Anderson, Kaila Anderson, Jessica Gratias, Lauren Reavely, Natalie Emmons, Ruth Owen, Sarah Anne Claffey.
EXTEMPORANEOUS
1st- Daniel Beasley
2nd- Andrew Bell
3rd- Kira Clark
4th- John Kostov
5th- Ryan Anderson
PERSUASIVE
1st- Sarah Chaffee
2nd- Jessica Gratias
3rd- Lauren Reavely
4th- Lauren Miller
ORIGINAL ORATORY
1st- Kira Clark
2nd- Ezra Stockton
3rd- Sable Scott
DUO INTERPRETATION
1st- Destiny Kruse–Devin Kruse
2nd- Jordan Brawner–Acacia Danielson
3rd- Creighton Deems–Tait Deems
4th- Alex Goldman–Collin Goldman
5th- Natalie Emmons–Stephanie Emmons
6th- David Kruse–Emma Kruse
7th- Dylan Deems–Tessa Deems
OPEN INTERPRETATION
1st- Acacia Danielson
2nd- Stephanie Emmons
3rd- Alex Goldman
4th- Destiny Kruse
5th- Elijah Owen
6th- Lauren Miller
7th- Emma Kruse
8th- Jessica Gratias
DRAMATIC INTERPRETATION
1st- Stephanie Emmons
2nd- Destiny Kruse
3rd- Ruth Owen
4th- Kira Clark
HUMOROUS INTERPRETATION
1st- Devin Kruse
2nd- Creighton Deems
3rd- Sarah Anne Claffey
4th- Stephanie Emmons
Debate
LINCOLN DOUGLAS DEBATE
1st- Sarah Chaffee
2nd- Tait Deems
3rd- Alexa Sleadd
4th- Colin Scott
5th- Kira Clark
6th- Sarabeth Mullins
7th- John Elliot Chaffee
8th- Kathryn Knight
Speaker Points:
1st- Kira Clark
2nd- Tait Deems
3rd- Sarah Chaffee
4th- Alexa Sleadd
5th- Colin Scott
6th- Lauren Miller
7th- Sarabeth Mullins
8th- Dylan Deems
TEAM POLICY DEBATE
1st- Daniel Beasley–Arlen Olson
2nd- Patrick Butler–John Kostov
3rd- Christopher Riegg–Elisabeth Wolcott
4th- Andrew Bell–Evan Bell
Speaker Points:
1st- Christopher Riegg
2nd- Elisabeth Wolcott
3rd- John Kostov
4th- Patrick Butler
5th- Sarah Carter
6th- Baniel Beasley
7th- Marissa Olson
8th- Arlen Olson
Sweepstakes
SWEEPSTAKES
1st- Sarah Chaffee
2nd- Kira Clark
3rd- Stephanie Emmons
4th- Devin Kruse
5th- Natalie Emmons
“We sang. We prayed. A boy asked for volunteer judges for the November 15 contest. He said they’re would be free food. A man asked everyone if they got to share the gospel with someone else. Some people did.
Then he said we can go to different classrooms on the left and right. Each one had a different type of speech they were working on. then everyone went to they’re classes.”
Last Tuesday’s meeting began with worship and prayer, followed by a mixer. All newcomers were congregated to one side of the room, while the 2nd+ yearers each found a newcomer to introduce to the group. It was an excellent way to be reminded of names without the use of name-tags. I (Alexa) introduced Tianna Strom, a 16 year-old ballet student from my church, who is in Mr. Sleadd’s speech class.
Following this mixer was announcements:
Aaron gave a website update: there is now is list posted on-line of recommended books for apologetics
On November 11th, there will be no Clarion meeting at the highschool. However, families are encouraged to find ways to fellowship with each other informally on that day.
Reminder: Don’t run in the hallway, Don’t use the stairs, use your indoor voices, stay off the courtyard grass, and clean up after yourself.
At 6:55, the gathering was dismissed, and students and parents each went to different rooms according to category. I attended the Apologetics meeting coached by Mr. Brad McMurray in the hallway corner during the first session, where Lacey Scott and I each delivered cards.
At 7:45, the session ended and I headed over to the impromptu room. The group was very large (yay!!!) so Jachin Scott, an alumni, took a few of the students including me, to an empty room down the hall. We were all apologetics students, I being the only one who had presented that night, so they got a chance to give apologetics cards rather than impromptus during that session.
After half an hour of “fellowshipping” indoors, we stampeded outdoors for more “fellowshipping”. We sang a hearty “Happy Birthday” to Jachin Scott, and then chanted “Speech! Speech! Speech!” He obliged and told us that he’d had cookies and ice cream for his birthday rather than cake.
It was, all in all, and fabulous evening. I look forward to next Tuesday.
Junior Tournament will be held on Saturday, November 15th and we’d love to have all of our “under 12’s” participate.
This tournament will be open to children 2 to 11 year olds. We will open registration on October 21st, and it will close November 4th . If there are any questions please direct them to the Tournament director, Bretton Howard.
We will have the following events:
1.Scripture memorization.
2.Poem recitation. (not written by student)
3.Expository speech. Remember that this category and #4 and #5 should be written by the student. Mom and Dad’s role is to draw out the speech, as necessary, by asking the student questions. Example, “What are 3 reasons why raising tadpoles for fun and profit is a good idea?” Really make them develop and write the speech. If they need to dictate the speech to you then that’s okay. The point is originality by the student.
4.Persuasive speech. Ditto for #3.
5.Original Oratory. Ditto for #3
6. Humorous Interpretation.
7. Dramatic Interpretation.
8. Duo Interpretation.
9. Open Interpretation.
10.Apologetics. We are excited to offer this event so get out your Bibles and get studying! I have listed the 10 topics below.
11.Impromptu. This is also a new event which will test the students’ ability to think on his or her feet. I have listed some sample questions below.
Apologetics Topics
1.Explain the meaning and Significance of Eternality of God
2.Explain the meaning and Significance of Grace of God
3.Explain the meaning and Significance of Holiness of God
4.Explain the meaning and Significance of Divine Inspiration of the Bible
5.Explain the meaning and Significance of Original Sin
6.Explain the meaning and Significance of Repentance
7.Explain the meaning and Significance of Redemption
8.Explain the meaning and Significance of Atonement
9.Explain the meaning and Significance of Incarnation
10.Explain the meaning and Significance of Jesus as the “Lamb of God”
Impromptu Questions (Samples)
The goal of the impromptu questions is to reveal the child’s moral foundation. After doing several test questions on some of the younger students we found that posing the topics in question form brought the most response. All the topics will be questions. Here are some practice questions:
1.Is it better to tell the truth and be disciplined, or hide a lie? Why?
2.Is it ok to tease someone? Why or why not?
3.How can you encourage people?
4.When do you know you did a good job?
5.How do you like to help your parents?
Rules and expectations:
1) After the Nov. 4th deadline there will be no switching of categories. You will have to compete in the category you signed up for.
2) Students are encouraged to dress up.
3) The rounds will be judged and timed by the Clarion Club students
4) The tournament usually runs through lunch ( approximately 8 am to 2pm) each family will be responsible to bring their own food.
5) No parent or student is allowed in the tab room besides the tab room director and assistant, tournament director and his assistant and the Adult supervisor of the tournament.
The meeting began at 6:30 pm, with Christina, Victoria and Stephanie Emmons leading the club with the singing of “Come Thou Fount.” Mr. Owen then opened the meeting with prayer. Several announcements were made by the following people: Mr. McMurray, Aaron Sleadd, Ruth Owen, Brett Howard, and Carla Deems.
At 7 pm we broke off into rooms to practice different speech categories: Impromptu, Platform, Interpretive, Apologetics, and debate. At 7:45 pm, session two began and students went to another room to practice the speech of their choice.
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm, with fellowship time till about 9:30 pm, which included singing happy birthday to Tessa and Emily.
Junior Tournament will be held on Saturday, November 15th and we’d love to have all of our “under 12’s” participate.
This tournament will be open to children 2 to 11 year olds. We will open registration on October 21st, and it will close November 4th . If there are any questions please direct them to the Tournament director, Bretton Howard.
We will have the following events:
1.Scripture memorization.
2.Poem recitation. (not written by student)
3.Expository speech. Remember that this category and #4 and #5 should be written by the student. Mom and Dad’s role is to draw out the speech, as necessary, by asking the student questions. Example, “What are 3 reasons why raising tadpoles for fun and profit is a good idea?” Really make them develop and write the speech. If they need to dictate the speech to you then that’s okay. The point is originality by the student.
4.Persuasive speech. Ditto for #3.
5.Original Oratory. Ditto for #3
6. Humorous Interpretation.
7. Dramatic Interpretation.
8. Duo Interpretation.
9. Open Interpretation.
10.Apologetics. We are excited to offer this event so get out your Bibles and get studying! I have listed the 10 topics below.
11.Impromptu. This is also a new event which will test the students’ ability to think on his or her feet. I have listed some sample questions below.
Apologetics Topics
1.Explain the meaning and Significance of Eternality of God
2.Explain the meaning and Significance of Grace of God
3.Explain the meaning and Significance of Holiness of God
4.Explain the meaning and Significance of Divine Inspiration of the Bible
5.Explain the meaning and Significance of Original Sin
6.Explain the meaning and Significance of Repentance
7.Explain the meaning and Significance of Redemption
8.Explain the meaning and Significance of Atonement
9.Explain the meaning and Significance of Incarnation
10.Explain the meaning and Significance of Jesus as the “Lamb of God”
Impromptu Questions (Samples)
The goal of the impromptu questions is to reveal the child’s moral foundation. After doing several test questions on some of the younger students we found that posing the topics in question form brought the most response. All the topics will be questions. Here are some practice questions:
1.Is it better to tell the truth and be disciplined, or hide a lie? Why?
2.Is it ok to tease someone? Why or why not?
3.How can you encourage people?
4.When do you know you did a good job?
5.How do you like to help your parents?
Rules and exspectations:
1) After the Nov. 4th deadline there will be no swicthing of catagories. You will have to compete in the catagory you signed up for.
2) Students are encouraged to dress up.
3) The rounds will be judged and timed by the Clarion Culd students
4) The tournament usually runs through lunch ( approximately 8 am to 2pm) each family will be responsible to bring their own food.
5) No parent or student is allowed in the tab room besides the tab room director and assistant, tournament director and his assistant and the Adult supervisor of the tournament.
Basic Theology, Charles C. Ryrie
Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem
Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin
Theological Dictionary
Theological Encyclopedia
Commentaries
Matthew Henry
Other resources
Sermons/Collections of Essays
The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis
The Everlasting Righteousness, Horatius Bonar
Catechisms
Westminster
Belgic Confession
Heidelburg
Devotions
Of the Imitation of Christ, Thomas A’ Kempis
Daily Readings from C.S. Lewis, C.S. Lewis
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers
Morning and Evening, Charles H. Spurgeon
Other books
New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell
McHenry’s Quips, Quotes and Other Notes, Raymond McHenry
The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer
Seven Men who Rule the World from the Grave, David Breese
The Universe Next Door, James W. Sire
The Fallacy Detective, Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn
C.H. Spurgeon
C. S. Lewis
Thomas a Kempis
R.C. Sproul
J.I Packer
Greg Koukl
Lee Strobel
John Calvin
Wayne Grudem
Jonathan Edwards
John Bunyan
A.W. Tozer
Martin Luther
Oswald Chambers
Greg Bahnsen
For those of that missed it or forgot this week was a lot of fun.
This week we practiced our Platform and Interpretive speech skills.For example, we tried to isolate our vocal characteristics from our body movements.We also wrote little persuasive speeches, in fifteen minutes, that we presented to our groups.The topics varied from chipotle curds (a kind of cheese) to what kind of car you should drive.
After the meeting was over, my personal favorite part (talking in the parking lot) began.This week I was surprised to see quite a few families fellowshipping well after nine o’ clock.
All in all, another very enjoyable speech club meeting.
Last Tuesday, following worship and an opening prayer, the Clarion Speech Club meeting began an evening of sharing from Mr. Emmons, Tait Deems, Dylan Deems and Carla Deems on the different aspects of debate. Differences between “LD” and “PD”
Tait gave a biased review of the distinctions between Team Policy Debate and Lincoln Douglas Debate, and Mr. Emmons called him on it. Bretton teamed up with him against Tait, and they had an informal debate over whether LD more valuable/applicable to life than PD. Tait differentiated LD from PD as a more value-centered debate, containing more philosophy, and logical reason, than its counterpart. He claimed that learning to debate metaphysics and philosophy is a much more valuable skill than to debate over diplomatic and political policies. Mr. Emmons begged to differ. Tait claimed that having one’s club as a debate partner is far superior to just one Team policy partner.
Encouragement to parents Carla Deems shared encouraging words with parents, explaining how judging a typical debate round works.
Overview of the LD resolution This year’s resolution “Resolved: When in conflict, idealism ought to be valued above pragmatism.” was stated, defined and explained. A guest speaker from the past (Karl Marx) made a special appearance, and gave his opinion on the value pragmatism (played by Tait). Dylan gave an expository speech on the philosophical definitions of the resolution in contrast with the normal, everyday definitions. He used the concept of death to help us understand. A philosophical pragmatist believes that death is merely a phase of life, there is no afterlife. A philosophical idealist’s perspective on death and the afterlife are greatly affected by his religion. A common pragmatist may have views of the afterlife, but does not let it affect him. He functions daily in a realm of practicality. A common idealist has a set of boundaries, goals, and principles that influence his every action and decision.
Overview of the PD resolution
Mr. Emmons introduced this year’s resolution to the club. “Resolved: that the United States Federal Government should significantly change its policy toward India.” He showed a copy of the Blue Book, and spoke about case-writing, and researching for evidence. Team policy is a two-on-two debate, that requires a lot of research, in this case, regarding the US’ current policy toward India. Debaters must have a thorough knowledge of this policy, and need to write a solid case advocating its reform. They must also aquire a great amount of evidence to support the status quo, should they be required to defend it as the Negative team.
Club participation time Students divided into two groups: LD in one, PD in the other. Both categories divided into sub-groups, who spread out to each have a mini-debate. LDers debated whether ground travel ought to be valued over air travel in the case of long distance, and the Team Policy students debated about parents determining if their children are ready to drive, rather than the State.
Assignments Mr. McMurray announced that the next club meeting would be focused on platform speeches and interpretive speeches. He encouraged us to return next week with a memorized poem.
A Review of the 9/16 Clarion Forensics Meeting.
By Connor McMurray
Theme: Limited Preparation events
The meeting began with a hymn and prayer followed by some announcements about the use of the school.
Stay off the stairs
Be quiet near the night school classroom
Leave the rooms the way you find them
If you make a mess that needs professional help, talk to the janitors
Keep an eye on your little ones so that they don’t wander off
Impromptu Focus
Those who remembered to bring Bibles lined up for Sword Drill (a practice of speed with the Word). Mr. McMurray named verses and whoever found them first was privileged to read them.
We then broke into groups of six to eight to tell bloody injury stories. After some gory tales, the president asked us to remain in the same groups and read a verse in proverbs and talk about it.
Extemporaneous Focus
The speech club broke into new groups to experiment with extemporaneous speaking (a limited preparation speech on current events). Each group gave a speech together on their chosen topic in front of the whole group.
Apologetics Focus
We divided again into groups of four to answer one of four questions about our faith, each with eternal importance. We ended the meeting with a testimony of the importance and value of apologetics.
The president closed the meeting in prayer and then we enjoyed some fellowship.
The meeting was very helpful for getting started, not just for limited preparation events, but for speech in general. It helped to open people up and a good time was had by all.
Mrs. Deems and Mr. Emmons will be leading our next meeting which will focus on Debate.
-Connor
If there is anyone else who would like to have something posted, then you an email me at Aaronsleadd[at]gmail[dot]com. and I will post it for you.
Below is a link to the Service Hours Sheet document (Microsoft Word) that you’ll need to fill out in order to get recognition for your service hours. Service Hours Sheet
You will also need the Service Hour Agreement Form to turn in with all your service hour details. Agreement Form
Once you have downloaded these files you’ll need to print them and start filling them out.
If your operating system does not support Microsoft Word then you can copy and paste from the following text into whatever program your computer prefers.
Service Hour WorksheetName:_________________________
Service done:_______________________________
Goal of doing this service:____________________________
What you learned, or what impact resulted from this service:
Name:___________________ agrees to submit their service hour form within one month of completing their service hours to someone (anyone outside of your immediate family).
Dear Clarion,
We are back at the hotel Friday night after hearing that we did not break in anything. The hardest thing about not moving into out-rounds is telling all of you who are praying for us and pulling for us. The boys did not feel that they were creamed in their debate rounds, rather that the judge could have gone either way. This is a marked improvement from last year when they were hoping for one or two wins on their ballots at the end of a tournament. Ultimately the goal of going to tournaments is to improve and be challenged, and we are!
We are so grateful to belong to a club that cares how we do and believes in us as you do. We aren’t sad, it’s been so fun and such a privilege.
The S.C.A.R.L.E.T. club that adopted us has several who broke in several events and, because of the kindness and fellowship with them and others, we are so excited about going tomorrow and cheering them all on. It is so fun when you have someone to cheer on.
Kaila - do you remember the Tchapplers who gave us rides to and from debate camp and roomed with us? They say hello, and they have a four month old baby boy Peter, that makes 5 kids and 8 years between the last one and Peter.
Victoria, Natalie, Aaron and Mary - I judged a round of persuasive and my top choice spoke on abortion. He took a whole new stance I’d not heard before. At his last point he got choked up and by the end he was crying and me too - it was so moving!!! He talked about how if Roe vs Wade was overturned, some of the pro-life laws that have compromised the issue would hinder the complete stop of abortion.
I really enjoyed a duo that two brothers did - they did the wizard of Oz. One had hair like Dylan’s, but he combed it out and it was very full. He was Dorothy and had a hilarious voice. I went to tell them I’d enjoyed it and I was surprised and blessed by their response. Their faces lit up and they surrounded me asking questions about which parts I liked. They wanted to know every detail and how to improve. “Dorothy” even demonstrated his girl voice for Tess ( she hadn’t seen the duo). They didn’t break and were a little sad, but we were able to laugh and talk about it so openly.
Such work and thought and heart in so many speeches that God must truly be glorified!!!!
The kids all say “Hi” and we look forward to seeing you.
- Carla
Pictures are of everyone waiting for announcements. One picture shows the judges up top working on ballots while all the kids are on the next two lower levels. And the picture of the the Moms are the S.C.A.R.L.E.T. club members that we are linked to as “Scarions”.
The S.C.A.R.L.E.T. club (of Orange County, CA) has a rule that when they find a lone family they adopt them as part of their club… they call us “scarions”. Ha, Ha, what fun, the Moms all check to see where I’m going and we try to judge together and they make sure I eat with them.
It was 20 degrees and snowing off and on today…cold brisk walks, but the buildings are warm and it has made it more exciting…those Californians love seeing the snow. We are all feeling fine and are not effected today from the altitude. The meals in the cafeteria were worth their price. We have all made many new friends!!
We have made acquaintances with a father daughter staying at our hotel, (see pictures) we ate breakfast and lunch together and connect several other times through out the day. I had dinner with a mother of 23, 13 of them were her own the rest she and her husband have adopted and there are 8 left at home, I can’t wait to talk with her again tomorrow, several of them have physical challenges and I am just amazed at her strength!!
I have judged all but one round and it is getting easier, I’m not drained like usual. One former competitor who is judging as an alumni said to me…”This is exhausting; even when I competed I wasn’t in every round and then I could leave after I gave my speech.”
I judged Extemp and they gave me a list of all the questions for all the rooms, I’ve saved it to pass onto our club extemp attempters.
That’s all the news I can think of for now……we miss you all and are thinking of you often.
Hi! There are so many people here, I’ll try to get a number for you tomorrow.
Boy, there is quite a bit of distance between rooms, we are all figuring it out. However this made all the rounds late today.All the kids timed rounds and did one debate (except Tess). All the boys did not feel great about their first round. We are headed to a Hoedown….some of us are excited! The pictures are of the orientation (the big group) and you can guess the rest.
Medford, OR- Kira Clark, Alexa Sleadd, Destiny Kruse, Colin Scott, and Lacey Scott took the top five sweepstakes awards in speech while Dillon Holst, Joshua Knopp, Chris Reigg and Ted Bradley lead the pack in debate competition at a three-day tournament held last week in Medford.
The tournament, sponsored by Clarion Forensics Club of Grants Pass, was held on January 17-19 at Bethel Church at Vista Pointe and attracted over seventy home schooled students ages twelve to eighteen from Washington and Oregon. Kira Clark of Seattle received first place in the Sweepstakes, receiving the highest accumulated score in all her events.
First place finishers for Clarion Club included Mary Owen, Grants Pass, Impromptu; Natalie Emmons, Grants Pass, Apologetics; Colin Scott, Rogue River, Open Interpretive; Destiny Kruse, Central Point, Dramatic Interpretive; Lacey Scott, Rogue River, Original Oratory; Colin Scott, Rogue River, Humorous Interpretive; Brendan Claffey, Grants Pass, Expository; and Aaron and Alexa Sleadd, Grants Pass for their duo interpretation of The Elephant’s Child by Rudyard Kipling.
Dillon Holst of Central Point took first place in Lincoln-Douglas debate in this, his first year of competing in the event. His affirmative case that the United States should more highly value isolationism won him the top spot against Kira Clark.
Chris Reigg and Ted Bradley, both of Portland, received first place in team policy debate. Joshua Knopp of Portland placed first in speaker points for team debate.
“We were especially encouraged by over a hundred people who volunteered their time as judges,” said Richard Emmons, club president and local business growth consultant. He added, “Without objective judges we can’t have a tournament. It’s as simple as that.” One community judge was Gail Beagin, the director of Child Evangelism Fellowship (Good News Club) in Jackson County who said, “I had the privilege last Friday to hear 8 apologetics speeches from some wonderful teens. I was blessed by them and thank the good Lord for showing me that there are such disciplined, and well trained young people willing to share with the world.”
When asked about the tournament, Alexa Sleadd answered, “The highlight for me was meeting new friends from all over the region and seeing old friends. This year I wasn’t as nervous because my focus was less on me and rather on Christ. Winning was less important to me this time. I just had fun!”
When asked for comments, Dillon Holst said, “It was the best debate I ever had; tons of fun! But I wouldn’t have been able to do as well as I did without Mrs. Deems coaching me.”
Chris Reigg and Ted Bradley, members of Rainmakers Club of Portland and both age 15, felt especially fortunate to perform so well after struggling with health problems throughout the season. Chris was hospitalized with a life-threatening condition for 17 days, and Ted was too ill the week before the tournament to compete in a Washington match with Chris. The pair rallied and took first place with their affirmative case on the league’s resolution advocating illegal immigration reform.
“I love to see the fruit of hard work among our home school students. Our club’s motto is: Christ—Communication—Companionship—Competition—Character—Commission. That’s what we saw happening at this tournament,” said John Sleadd, coach for Clarion Club and pastor of Coram Deo Church in Grants Pass.
Of the seventy students competing at the meet, forty-six qualified for the next level of regional competition. Of those, thirty were Clarion members. Regional competition is scheduled for April in Redmond, WA. Winners at Regionals will go on to the National Championships in June. Clarion Club is an affiliate of the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association (www.ncfca.org).
We are very excited that our big tournament is about to begin. And I mean big: Over 100 judges registered, 73 students from 41 families, and the largest church building in Southern Oregon about to get stuffed to the gills!
Here are the final registration numbers:
May the words of our mouths be sweet in the ears of God. Soli Deo gloria: To God alone by the glory.
After many delays and over 2 hours late, the announcements came in…
Qualifing for regionals and breaking to next rounds…
Aaron Sleadd
Jachin Scott
Dylan Deems
Dillion Holst
They’re excitment is so very fun to see, they all took turns calling home and are all a buzz with research and debate discussions now. I was hoping to go to sleep earlier, oh well…
We wish you could all be here to join in the fun of their success but I don’t think it will be gone Tuesday night when we are all together again.
Two more breaks to come before the final winner is announced.
We will not be able to post tomorrow so as the breaks are announced after each round I’ll call the Emmons to pass the news on, and of course each of our families will have the lastest news.
Dylan and Aaron….talking. Howdy y’all out dere! Aaron Sleaddvinsky here
The trip has been very fun so far. Today was our first debate day. We all did 2 debates so far except Creighton and Jachin; who only debated once.
We were up til 1:00 last night talking debate and video editing.
I just found out today that debating helps to get to know people a lot better than I. E. because you get to talk about the debate afterward and stuff. I had thought it would be pretty intimidating, debating someone you don’t know; but you actually make friends faster through debate. So I’ve been having lots of fun and I’ve met some new people.
We’re going to try and get some pictures up, so stay tuned!
And here’s a report from another intrepid reporter on the road with Clarion Forensics….
Alexa Sleadd here, reporter for Traveler’s Journal. The trip up to Seattle was rather uneventful, mostly sitting, and sitting some more, and some talking too. We stopped in Myrtle Creek, at a little DQ, for lunch. On each table was a pamphlet, of local business advertisments, and random Montana laws. By the way, did you know that seven or more Indians are considered a raiding party and it is legal to shoot at them? Don’t worry, this law has been repealed. It is also illegal to have a sheep in the cab of your truck without a chaperone. So we all piled back into the car again and then we watched a movie…then everyone debated…(more liked argued, throwing out random arguments). Dylan and Tait got their hair cut… (this should show how desperate we are to find something to write about…) At the moment the fellas are arm wrestling, and they are gasping dramatically, and are giving high-pitched giggles. Tomorrow the fellas get to debate, so await exciting updates coming soon, so stay tuned, folks!
Did you know that public speaking can help you celebrate new year’s day?
You lift your glass of Martinelli’s and are asked by the host to give a toast to the new year. Do you panic? Of course not…this is just another opportunity to practice impromptu speaking!
New families continue to register for our speech and debate tournament. We now have 62 students from 35 families registered to compete. Here is a breakdown by speech category:
We are looking to add a 4th room for impromptu so go ahead and add yourself to the waiting list if you so desire.
Today was another big day for registration. Lots of families and a couple of surprises….
We now have 46 students from 23 families registered for our January tournament. This puts us on track to exceed last year’s total which had 46 students after 3 weeks of registration.
The big surprise was that one family will be coming all the way from Colorado! And two families from Washington will be making the drive down to beautiful Southern Oregon. Wouldn’t it be great to have at least one family from every state in Region 3?
Thanks to the fine FlowPad software we are using, I can give you a visual view of our upcoming tournament.
I will post this graph every few days as we approach the tournament.
Today, we opened registration for our 2nd annual tournament to be held on January 17-19, 2008 in Medford, Oregon. Our tournament will feature 10 NCFCA speech events plus Team Policy and Lincoln-Douglas Debates.
We had 37 students from 17 families register for 96 events this first day and expect plenty more tomorrow as registration is opened up to the rest of Region 3.
The junior tournament this past Saturday went really well! The kids did a great job giving their speeches. Below are the results. Click on the Pictures page for photos from Saturday.
Duo Interpretation
1st place: Ellie Anderson and Emma Kruse
2nd place: Esther Anderson and Mercy Kruse
3rd place: Mailee and Murran Goldman
Runner up: Drew Deems and Levi Anderson
Dramatic Interpretation
1st place: Ellie Anderson
Runner up: Caleb Sleadd
Runner up: Cassidy Howard
Open Interpretation
1st place: Elijah Owen
2nd place: Drew Deems
3rd place: Emily Gratias
Runner up: Janelle Holst
Runner up: Abigail Kruse
Runner up: Jonathan Kruse
Runner up: William Goldman
Humorous Interpretation
1st place: Emma Kruse
2nd place: Cassie Goldman
3rd place: Esther Anderson
Runner up: Jared Kruse
Scripture Memorization
1st place: Matthew Holst
2nd place: Cassidy Howard
3rd place: Drew Deems
Runner up: Calvin McMurray
Runner up: Abigail Vorgang
Persuasive
1st place: Talie Phillips
Thank you to everyone who helped make this tournament a success: those who helped organize the tournament; those who competed; those who judged; and last but not least, our parents for their support.
