Congratulations on such a great showing!

This year, SDA hosted the second weekend of qualifiers for the San Diego Imperial Valley League and was able to feed and host 31 rooms to over 150 competitors and 70 parent and community judges. Donations were made from the following vendors:

The Speech and Debate team wants to thank their generous donors!

• Starbucks on 258 N. El Camino Real in Encinitas
• Papa Johns Pizza on 337 N. El Camino Real in Encinitas
• Einstein Bagels on 106 N. El Camino Real in Encinitas
• St. Tropez Bakery in Encinitas
• Pizzicato in Encinitas

The following SDA speech and debate students will be representing the San Diego Imperial Valley this year at the state tournament in San Francisco:

• Johnny Menhennet and Joseph Swit 2nd Place Policy Debate
• Keenan Rodewald and David Galloway 5th Place Policy Debate
• Desiree Otillio and Cameron Koob 3rd Place Parli Debate
• Taylor Knudson and Calvin Borchers 4th Place Parli Debate
• Johnny Menhennet and Riley Murphy 2nd Place Duo Interpretation (They perform Mean Girls)
• Claire Li 5th Place Impromptu (made it into States)

Please support our Speech and Debate Team

I want to recognize the hard work of the students who did not qualify to States, but still placed in the top 20 percent of their events in the San Diego Imperial Valley League. Some of the students had to compete against 60 other teams or students.

Speech and Debate members work hard and play hard!

• George Irouv and Austin Ryan 6th place Policy Debate
• Kira Gaby and Stacy Li 8th Place Policy Debate
• Taylor Knudson and Delaney Duff 10th Place Policy Debate
• Riley Murphy 8th Place Lincoln Douglas Debate
• Claire Li and Shannon O’Donnell 11th Place in Parli Debate
• Stacy Li- 13th Place in Original Prose and Poetry
• Kira Gaby- 7th Place in Impromptu
• Riley Murphy- 13th Place in Impromptu
• Cameron Koob- 14th Place in Impromptu
• Shannon O’Donnell and Hannah Wolfe 9th Place in DUO Interpretation
• Roya Chagnon- 10th Place in Humorous Interpretation
• Stacy Li- 11th Place in Humorous Interpretation
• Johnny Menhennet- 14th Place in National Extemp
• Cameron Koob- 7th Place in International Extemp
• Taylor Knudson- 13th Place in International Extemp

Overall as a school we placed 4th and we only had 50 percent of the entries that the schools that placed 1st through 3rd, so we did major damage in small numbers. Congrats to those students and San Francisco here we come!!!

Click on above image to download the Team Paradox newsletter

Hello sponsors, students, parents, mentors, and officials,

Please enjoy FIRST Robotics Team Paradox 2102′s February quarterly newsletter. On the second page, you can find a list of upcoming FIRST events. We encourage you to pass this along to your staff, friends, professional networks and anyone else you think may be interested in the FIRST program.

We are very excited for this year, and as our first regional in San Diego is approaching on March 2, 3, and 4, we hope you will share this enthusiasm.

Lonnie Safarik

Click on above image to download the January newsletter

Hey, everyone!
Here’s the FIRST Robotics Team Paradox’s January Newsletter.
Thank you for reading.

Lonnie Safarik

Please be sure to see the photo album at the end of this article!

The SDA Speech and Debate has found great success in the year 2011. To wrap up the year, SDA first competed at the Novice League Debate at Helix High School in October. The combination of everyone’s hard work resulted in SDA’s first place in sweepstakes. In Policy Debate, partners Kira Gaby and Austin Ryan placed first, while Stacy Li and Johnny Menhennet took second. Keenan Rodewald and Delaney Duff took third place and Kevin Gallagher and Taylor Knudson placed sixth. In Lincoln Douglas debate, Riley Murphy won first place and Jake Hawkes took seventh.

Our second tournament was the Novice Speech Tournament at Mission Vista in November. Johnny Menhennet won third in International Extempt as Riley Murphy won second in Impromptu. Together, they won second place in Duo Interpretation. In Impromptu, Mason Bright placed third and Elizabeth Jacobson took sixth. Taylor Knudson won sixth place in Original Advocacy. Stacy Li won first in Original Prose and Poetry and placed sixth in Humorous Interpretation. SDA, as a whole, won 4th place sweepstakes.

Finally, SDA attended the San Diego Winter Classic at La Costa Canyon in December. In Varsity Policy Debate Michael Wimsatt and Elliot Horen made it to semifinals and Elliot Horen won first place speaker. In Varsity Lincoln Douglas debate, Cameron Koob made it to Octofinals. In speech, Aram Mahmoudzadeh won first in Impromptu. Stacy Li placed fifth in Humorous Interpretation (claiming a Tournament of Champions bid) and sixth in Original Prose and Poetry. Benjy Malings won seventh in Original Prose and Poetry and Maia Rosengarten placed fourth in Original Oratory (claiming a TOC bid.)

Elliot Horen and Michael Wimsatt competed in Varsity Policy Debate at the Meadows School Tournament where they received their second TOC bid. They are now qualified for the Tournament of Champions and are making plans to travel to the tournament in Kentucky at the end of April. They also made it to the quarterfinals at USC David Damus Trojan Championships, thus, earning their third TOC bid. All results for 2011 and 2012 are posted on the team’s website at www.sdadebate.org.

2011 might have ended, but the SDA Speech and Debate team still has many more tournaments to attend in 2012. We’d like to thank all the parent volunteers and our coach, Mrs. Barry, for making such a great year possible. We look forward to seeing all of you in 2012!

More photos at end of article!

In varsity speech, Aram Mahmoudzadeh won first in Impromptu and second as a Congress PO. Claire Li followed closely behind with a second in Impromptu and seventh in Congress while Lauren Nelson took eleventh in Congress. Shannon O’Donnell and Hannah Wolfe used their teamwork to achieve fourth in DUO. The competition was tough and our victories were hard won; good job Varsity Speech!

Yet there wasn’t any time to rest! The team quickly moved to conquer the CSUF Fall Fullerton Invitational. In Varsity Policy Debate; Michael Wimsatt and Elliot Horen took first place and earned a Tournament of Champions bid, while Jerry Jin and David Galloway made it to Octo Finals. Our novices worked just as hard as they did; with Delaney Duff and Kennan Rodewald taking second in Novice Policy Debate. Johnny Menhennet and Stacy Li, as well as Taylor Knudson Frisco and Jared Holguin all made it to Octo Finals. In Novice LD Debate, Jake Hawkes was our only Quarter finalist. However, the team still wasn’t finished!

SDA did an amazing job in Speech Events as well. Benjy Mailings was a finalist in both Original Prose and Poetry as well as Dramatic Interpretation. Lauren Nelson and Claire Li also were finalists in Original Prose and Poetry. Johnny Menhennet made it to Quarter Finals in Extemp. SDA did a wonderful job at this tournament, and yet our winning streak still hadn’t ended.

The most recent tournament the SDA Speech and Debate team attended was Novice League Debate on October 29th. SDA took first place Sweepstakes. But in order to win the tournament, we had to win our rounds first. SDA blew other schools out of the water in Policy Debate. Kira Gaby and Austin Ryan took first place with Stacy Li and Johnny Menhennet earning a close second. Keenan Rodewald and Delaney Duff moved in for third while Kevin Gallagher and Taylor Knudson Frisco placed sixth. In LD Debate, Riley Murphy took first place with Jake Hawkes taking seventh. Great job SDA!

Even in light of our recent achievements — either individually or as a team — there are two that we’d like to specially acknowledge. Michael Wimsatt and Elliot Horen are going to the TOC, or, Tournament Of Champions. This is a very prestigious tournament; all competing members must receive an invitation to go. This is an annual tournament held in Kentucky, and Michael and Elliot have the honor of being the second team in California and the nineteenth team in the nation to be eligible to attend this year.

In order for one to receive an invitation, they must have won two bids. In other words, they must have made it to a certain point for each tournament. At Fullerton, the requirement was met when they surpassed semi-finals and was met again at the Meadows Invitational in Las Vegas when they made it to quarter finals. We applaud the success and dedication of Michael and Elliot and wish them the best of luck at the TOC.

Overall, it was a great — if exhausting — effort that truly showed the capabilities and potential of our team! We’d like to thank everyone for their time and commitment; especially parents who judged and/or drove. It wouldn’t have been possible without you. Good job Speech and Debate! Keep up the excellent work!