Dear Speech Coach,

 

The New Ulm High School Speech Team would like to invite you to its 7th annual Eagles Speech Invitational on March 25, 2017. The tournament will include 3 preliminary rounds and finals for all 13 MSHSL categories. We will also have both varsity and novice finals. We hope you will join us for one of the last tournaments before sections for a day of great competition, efficiency, and fun.

 

We are also very excited to host you at our NEW high school! Our new address is 1600 Oak Street in New Ulm, MN.

 

Our tournament is looking to be bigger than in past years. Thus, we will be utilizing two buildings and splitting the categories:

 

Registration:

Please register by Wednesday, March 22 on SpeechWire. However, I will leave the portal open to continue making adds/drops until Saturday morning. If you have changes the day of, please do them on SpeechWire before 7:15 a.m. or send a text on your way here (507.828.4562).

 

Double Entries:

Double entries will still be allowed AS LONG AS both categories are in the same building for prelims! There will not be time to move between buildings for double entries, nor a shuttle provided to do so. 

 

Entry Fees:

$6 per entry; duos count as two entries ($12).

 

Draws:

Ex. Reading, Ex. Speaking, and Storytelling will have clean draws for all 3 rounds and finals to help prepare for sections.

 

Schedule:

With two sites, I have decided to adjust the schedule for the day slightly. Round 1 will start 15 minutes later at 9:15. This will give you time to drop off your split team at each site with a little extra flexibility—please let your bus drivers know. 

 

ALL Final Rounds will be at the high school. So in addition to moving rounds back 15 minutes, there will be extra time between Round 3 and Finals to bus all students at the middle school to the high school. Several participating schools have volunteered to have their buses serve as shuttles to bus ALL students and judges from the middle school to the high school, so you do not necessarily have to have your bus come to pick up your kids. Please let your students know this so they don’t feel like they can’t get on another team’s bus. But if you’d prefer to have your own bus pick up your students, that’s fine too.

 

Each site will also have its own judges’ lounge, concession stand, and ballot drop. The concession stand at the middle school, however, will close down during Round 3, but speakers can still get food at the high school once transported up there after that.

 

Here’s the revised schedule for the day:

        7:45-8:15 a.m. Registration

        8:45 a.m.           Draws for Round I

        9:15 a.m.           Round I

        10:15 a.m.        Draws for Round II

        10:45 a.m.        Round II

        11:30 a.m.        Draws for Round III

        12:10 p.m.        Round III

        1:30-2:10 p.m.   Lunch/Busing up from Middle School

        1:40 p.m.           Draws for Finals

        2:10 p.m.           Finals

        4:00 p.m.           Awards in Auditorium (approximate time)

 

Schematics:

Schematics will be posted in both locations. In addition, we will be live posting throughout the day on SpeechWire. To help keep things moving as well, I will make every effort to limit rounds to 6 if possible.

 

Judges:

I have created two new judge types (middle school vs. high school instead of the regular PA, Interp, or Either judge types). Judges will be assigned by location and stay there for prelims and should be willing to judge all categories at that site. This way judges and students do not have to get shuttled back and forth between two sites. Please let your judges know which site they should report to at the start of the day. You need 1 judge for every 6 entries (or fraction thereof) at EACH building (you’ll notice a little different setup on SpeechWire when you enter your judges to accommodate this). Please review your judges’ page carefully.

 

Awards:

Varsity medals will be awarded to 1st-3rd places in each category; ribbons will be awarded for 4th-7th place. Novice will be awarded 1-6th place ribbons. 1st-3rd place trophies will be awarded to the top 3 schools in both large and limited entries.

 

Sincerely,

 

Lucas Van Leeuwe

Head Speech Coach

New Ulm High School

1600 Oak Street

New Ulm, MN 56073

Phone: (507) 233-6461

Cell: (507) 828-4562

lvanleeuwe@newulm.k12.mn.us

(vr)