NDCA Open Evidence Project Now Live

Tara Tate, chair of the board of the National Debate Coaches Association, has announced that the Open Evidence Project is live and available for use.

Tate’s email follows.

Happy July 4th weekend, colleagues!

The NDCA Board is proud to announce that our Open Evidence project is live and available for use. You can visit the Open Evidence project at http://www.debatecoaches.org and click on the blue “tub” on the right.

Started in 2007 as the brain child of Aaron Timmons, the NDCA launched the Open Evidence project in order to provide free access to camp files. Every year, the project continues to grow and the number of files available for your students continues to increase. We would like to thank all of the institutes that have granted us permission to post their files.

Since summer institutes have really just gotten momentum, the website will likely be adding new files every day. If you are part of an institute (whether it is policy, LD, Public Forum, or Student Congress) and you would like to include your files in our project, please feel free to email Maggie Berthiaume at maggiekb@gmail.com .

Thanks to Maggie Berthiaume for heading up this project and to the Board members who spend the time uploading these files! We hope that this project continues to provide you and your students with a great service. Please pass this email along to any program that you think would benefit from these available resources.

VBI2011: Students of the Day — Nathan Cummings and Natalia Sucher

After a four-year hiatus, the VBI Students of the Day feature has returned! Each day, I will profile two students at the Victory Briefs Institute so you, dear reader, can learn about the debaters from across the country who have joined us here at UCLA.

Name: Nathan Cummings
School: Mercer Island High School (Washington State)
Class: 2014
Coaches: Julia Seidman, Steven Adler, Lizzie Tao
NFL Degree: Honor

VBI2001-S1 Lab: Alex Zhang/Charles Chy/Nate Lintz

How did you first get involved in debate?

I’d heard about Mercer Island’s debate team and signed up for the class even though I had little to no idea about what debate actually entailed. (I almost joined the policy team!)

What is your proudest achievement in debate thus far?

Give me a year, I’m working on it. As of now… breaking at several local tournaments, getting to know the Washington circuit better.

What are your hobbies beyond debate?

Running (track, XC), clarinet, procrastinating, playing ultimate frisbee (badly), drawing ridiculous self-portraits.

What are your main goals for VBI?

Getting all the necessary skills I need to debate with my teammates next year and hopefully begin traveling.

What is your favorite thing about camp?

I’ve met a bunch of stupefyingly smart people, but I think the best part is working with my labmates and talking shop about debate. VBI is an amazing environment and I appreciate getting to know the debate community and how awesome it can be, especially during Socrates Hours. (Inside joke.)

That, or the Covel cafeteria food. Close second.

Name: Natalia Sucher
School: The Beacon School (New York)
Class: 2012
Coaches: Harry Feder, Max Hantel, Liz Scoggin
NFL Degree: None (Beacon is not an NFL member.)

VBI2001-S1 Lab: Peter D. van Elswyk/Jeff Liu

How did you first get involved in debate?

Freshman year I wandered into my school’s Policy Debate meeting, and I admired the varsity members’ confidence so much I sought to emulate them, so I stuck with debate.

What is your proudest achievement in debate thus far?

Aside from creating the LD program at my school in the beginning of my junior year, I was tenth varsity speaker at Lexington, a vast improvement from my performance earlier in the year.

What are your hobbies beyond debate?

I play the guitar, write what I like to think are funny comics, and write the humor column at my school.

What are your main goals for VBI?

Polishing up the transition between Policy and LD.

What is your favorite thing about camp?

Being surrounded by impossibly intelligent people and being able to ask them impossibly stupid questions. It’s also far more challenging than my experiences with Policy camp, and I love it.

Scenes from Camp, Part 2

Images from VBI2011-S1 have been uploaded to the Victory Briefs Photo Gallery; I’ll be uploading pictures throughout my time here. Many more are on the way.

VBI2011: Practice Round 3

The pairings for the third practice round are available online. The divisions are named for three of our past camp leaders: Oscar Shine, Tommy Clancy, and Neil Conrad. (The Conrad Division will begin its practice rounds later.)

All pairings can be found on the Victory Briefs Wiki.

University of Kentucky Seeks Full-Time Lecturer and Director of the Kentucky High School Speech League

The College of Communications and Information Studies at the University of Kentucky invites applications for a full-time lecturer and director of the Kentucky High School Speech League position beginning August 15, 2012, pending final budgetary approval. (The official job description is available here on VBD.)

Candidates should have expertise in oral, written, and visual communication skills, hold a terminal degree in communication or related field, administrative experience with speech and debate, and evidence of excellence in teaching and service. Responsibilities include teaching two courses per semester in the new integrated communication skills (oral, written, visual) two-course general education sequence at the freshman level and directing the Kentucky High School Speech League (KHSSL). KHSSL is the premier speech and debate activity organization in Kentucky, and hosts the annual state tournaments and drama competitions. The director will be responsible for administering KHSSL’s day-to-day operations, managing its regional qualification process, hosting the middle school and high school state championship tournaments, and organizing the annual state drama “festival” (a weekend of drama productions). Other administrative duties include handling KHSSL’s finances, maintaining the KHSSL website, and preparing reports on organization functions to the KHSSL Board of Directors. The director will also be responsible for overseeing KHSSL’s outreach activities, including reinvigorating debate programs in the state of Kentucky.

The College of Communications and Information Studies offers undergraduate and/or graduate degrees in communication, integrated strategic communication, journalism, library science, and telecommunications. The College has an active research faculty with a consistent record of extramural funding and has been recognized for teaching excellence by the University. For information about the College and the beautiful bluegrass Lexington area, visit www.uky.edu/CommInfoStudies.

The University is an equal opportunity employer and the College especially encourages applications from women, minorities, and individuals who have experience working in communities of color. The University of Kentucky is also tobacco-free, and prohibits the use of all tobacco products on all grounds and parking areas. Salary for the positions will be competitive and commensurate with experience. To apply, please send a letter of application, vita, evidence of teaching excellence, evidence of speech and/or debate administrative experience, and three current letters of recommendation to Dr. Deanna Sellnow, Director of the Division of Instructional Communication, 310 Lucille Little Library Building (LCLI), University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506. Applicants may also send materials via email at: Deanna.Sellnow@uky.edu. Review of applications begins immediately and continues until the position is filled, pending final budgetary approval. Upon offer of employment, the successful applicant must undergo a national background check as required by University of Kentucky Human Resources.