Capitol Congress

P-Russ's recap:

SUBJECT: Capitol Congress Success!

Greetings!

The Speech & Debate Team had a stupendous day in Santa Fe for our first post-reboot tournament. Despite the fact that our kids had to wake up earlier and travel farther than any other team, and that we lack the institutional knowledge and experience that most of these ABQ and Santa Fe area powerhouses possess, your very own Gavelin’ Eagles shook the Roundhouse up!

Of our 19 students who attended, 8(!) placed in the top ten in their chambers. The Hailey/is stole the show, with Hailey Thomas placing 5th and Haylei Redhouse placing 6th in their respective Houses... and they’ve got shiny new medals to prove it (see attached pic, though I imagine they’d be willing to show you in person if you ask nice).

Here are the other six students who ranked in the top 10:

• Nalanaya Austin

• Talen Becenti

• Ciera Charley

• Josiah Dineyazhe

• Aspyn Kaskalla

• Ceanna McCray

For context, when I rebooted the team at my last school back in Maine (a smaller and less competitive district than NM), we went a full four meets before any of our students ranked!

Honestly, the tournament was a bit disorganized, and there were a few unfortunate issues that disadvantaged our students. I know it sounds like I’m making excuses, but my point is that these challenges make our students’ success doubly impressive, and I’m confident that at future tournaments when things run a bit more smoothly they will do even better.

Again, thanks to all of you who dealt with these students’ absences so they could have this experience. Even though we’ve all been awake since 4 AM and still haven’t even hit Cuba, they are positively abuzz with excitement and pride (“Mr. Russell, when’s the next tournament!?” has been a shockingly common refrain this evening). Clearly, I am too!

Oh, and a HUGE thank you to Roxane and Anya for coming all this way to listen to, give feedback on, and score speeches all day!

Best,

John