15 March 2005
15 March 2005| News from Vermont Debate AKA The Voice of Edwin is the weekly newsletter of the Edwin Lawrence Debate Union at the University of Vermont, an endowed co-curricular program which trains students in debating and sponsors national competition and community events. The newsletter is published every Tuesday during the school year and infrequently at other times. Alfred C. Snider is the Director. 802-656-0097 voice, 802-238-8345 mobile, 802-656-4275 fax, alfred.snider@uvm.edu email, and http://debate.uvm.edu/ldu.html web site. |
| Jason Hitchcock & Nick Landsman-Roos as they qualified for the NDT
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On a winning streak unparalleled in Vermont debate history, the Lawrence Debate Union prepares to end its 2004-2005 competitive season with a swing to America's left coast. Five teams will attend the Cross Examination Debate Association's national championship tournament along with 182 other teams from all over America. Attending will be Nick Landsman-Roos & Jason Hitchcock, Brady Fletcher & Jake Meany, Leslie Keller & Megan Harlow, Emily Sanders & Aimee Rosato and Chase Whiting & Shane Clark. The squad represents the JV national champions, the novice national champions and the winners of the district eight NDT qualifying tournament. Coaches accompanying the teams will include East "Coaches of the Year" Helen & Justin Morgan Parmett, Alfred Snider, and supporting alumni who will coach and judge, Abigail Trebilcock (now living in San Francisco), Teresa Hill (now living in LA) and Eric Mates (now living in Washington, DC, but who is driving to California to be of support). The squad is incredibly young, with one senior, two juniors, five sophomores and one first year student. The group will be hosted by LDU alumni Laura and Glenn Ellingson as well as Mike Calore, also known as "DJ Snackfight."
Such a huge trip is very expensive. The trip has been made possible by a number of efforts, including cost-saving measures endured by the LDU all season (who can forget the Blue Falls Motel and the Skylark Motor Lodge), by additional funding from the Student Government Association at UVM (orchestrated by debater Matt Silverman and others), and of course the generosity of LDU alums who stepped forward to purchase plane tickets. Nick is being sponsored by Paul Kerr and Claudia Greenman. Jason is being sponsored by Lindsey Melander and everyone who attended her fund raising cocktail party in DC. Emily and Aimee are being sponsored by Paula Skowron. Leslie is being sponsored by Laura & Glenn Ellingson. Megan, Chase and Jake are being sponsored by Matt & Erynne Byrne. Shane is being sponsored by Pam Peck. Brady is being sponsored by Mimi Supernaw and anonymous donors. Extra funds for the NDT part of the trip were provided by Chuck Morton, Mike Calore and anonymous donors. Glenn & Laura Ellingson will be hosting the crew at sleepovers at their home in San Jose on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Thanks also to the Department of Theatre for helping Justin attend.
Helen Morgan Parmett was elected by the coaches of the East region to judge the national championship final round in San Francisco.
Through the years, across time and space, the LDU is community and the LDU is strong.
<=== | Two teams who closed out novice nationals pose with victory cups
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People in the UVM community and the debate community are still recognizing the feat accomplished at Georgetown University when UVM closed out the Novice National Championship and won the JV National Championship. Here is a sample of this response.
Sam Nelson, former UVM coach now director at the University of Rochester: "I
just want to publicly congratulate the Lawrence Debate Union at the University
of Vermont for all they accomplished this year. Over my twenty year coaching
career I have never witnessed so much success in so many diverse categories
accomplished by one program. Here are a few notable highlights: 1) Had one
of the largest squads this year fielding as many as 16 teams at
one tournament. 2) Had one of the largest novice squads in the US, introducing
many
individuals to policy debate for the first time. 3) Had one of the most
successful novice squads in the US winning several regional tournaments and
closing out Novice Nationals at Georgetown. 4) Won JV Nationals at Georgetown.
5) Qualified the top team out of District 8 for the NDT. 6) Had two coaches,
Justin Morgan Parmett and Helen Morgan Parmett, chosen as
coaches of the year by SAMBA. 7) Helen Morgan Parmett chosen by CEDA East
to represent the region as CEDA Nationals final round judge. All this and
they are just warming up going into CEDA Nationals and the NDT! I guess all
the hard work that the Catamounts put in over the year paid off. Tuna Snider,
their fearless leader, and everyone associated with the program
deserve much praise."
Jackie Massey, former UVM coach now director at the University of Oklahoma, whose team lost the JV finals to UVM: "So as I was going up to my room monday night, I had a tear fall from my eye as I went to celebrate. It wasn't tears of sadness or defeat, but quite the opposite. To see four of my former debaters, and coaching partner, on the other side of the room I felt like it was an amazing experience. The Vermont team accomplished an amazing feat this weekend. One that I will always strive to emulate. If someone were to ask me what was one of the greatest victories in debate I have ever seen, I would say it was Vermont at the JV/Novice National Championship at Georgetown. They were both Novice and JV National Champions. The coaches for Vermont were awesome and the debaters focused. The team did everything right this past weekend, and I feel like you should all be graciously acknowledged for such accomplishments. Keep celebrating, you deserve it."
Jane Knodell, UVM Dean of Arts & Sciences: "Two national championships!! Well done, congratulations, and thanks to you and your team for bringing our debate students up to such a high level of achievement and accomplishment."
COLLEGE
SPORTS TELEVISION TO FOCUS ON UVM DEBATE College Sports
Television did a special broadcast of the events surrounding the National
Debate Tournament, an event sponsored by the American Forensic Association
that is the equivalent of the NCAA playoffs for college policy debate. The
other national tournament is the Cross Examination Association nationals
with a policy of open entry. Teams must go through a rigorous qualification
process, winning regional tournaments. UVM's Jason Hitchcock & Nick Landsman-Roos
won the qualifying tournament for New England and New York state with a 10-2
record on the last weekend in February. This year College Sports Television
plans expanded coverage of the NDT and has asked for permission to follow
the UVM team through their tournament experience. Nick and Jason, two sophomores,
indicated that they were excited about the prospect. CSTV
said they were interested in following UVM because they have a tradition
of training new debaters instead of relying on proven high school stars.
"We have been talking and they seem very excited," said LDU Director Snider.
"We look forward to the publicity and hope we do not disappoint." Stay tuned
for more information in the weeks to come.
NEWS AND NOTES OF THE LDU FAMILY
SARAH
SNIDER WRITES:
"The District of Columbia Urban Debate League seeks a Program Assistant
for the 2005-2006 year beginning this in May 2005. I thought maybe
some LDU alums would be interested. To see if you are interested in
working for the DCUDL check it out here: http://www.dcdebate.org .Check
out the job description and find out how to apply here: http://www.universityofdc.org/docs/project_assistant_04_56.pdf
. If anyone has any questions let me know. sarah@dcdebate.org"
| SEMESTER ONE | SEMESTER TWO |
| 10/2 Buffalo
47-40 10/16 Rochester 37-42 10/30 Harvard 2-6 10/30 West Point 34-35 11/6 Oklahoma 2-4 11/20 Wake Forest 3-5 12/4 U Mass 16-8 |
1/4-6 North
Texas 8-16 1/8-10 Texas at Dallas 9-17 1/29 Cornell 20-31 2/5 Northwestern 4-4 2/12 Binghamton 39-29 2/26 CEDA East/District 8 (Vermont) 41-34 3/5 JV/Novice Nats at Georgetown 46-26 3/19 CEDA Nats at San Francisco State 3/25-28 NDT Nats at Gonzaga, Spokane, Washington |
Watch Flashpoint
from your computer screen whenever you want! You will need RealPlayer installed
on your computer to become a part of our growing audience. Here are some
recent programs now available at http://debate.uvm.edu/flashpoint.html.
Watch on Burlington Channel 15 Wednesday 12:30 PM, Thursday 10 PM, Saturday
1 PM.
The next taping will be April 2 at 2 PM.
NOTES FROM MONDAY NIGHT'S 6 PM MEETING:
Transportation
to the airport was discussed.
Packing for California was discussed.
THE LDU BANQUET IS BEING PLANNED FOR APRIL 9. JASON WILL COORDINATE.
The LDU has committed to a major initiative to begin debate programs in middle schools all over Vermont. Stay tuned for this organized and state wide affair. So far the Vermont Principals' Association, the Vermont Debate and Forensic League and the Howard Dean Education Center have indicated support.
Brady and Karen announced that their L&L residential group S.P.E.A.K.S. was approved for next year. They invite people to join them and move in.
Charlie announced that a new UVM group, Men Advocating Change, meets every Tuesday at 7 PM in Christy-Wright-Patterson.
LDU 2005 Sweatshirts - Order forms out on the listserv. Return them quickly.
Leslie Keller is organizing an effort to plant trees to make up for all the paper we use. More info to come in the spring. Greta Lockwood and Abram Harrison have become involved as well.
SQUAD
MEETS AT 6 PM EACH MONDAY NIGHT, 475 MAIN STREET, ALL WELCOME!UVM DEBATE IS CURRENTLY #5
IN THE CEDA NATIONAL SWEEPSTAKES FOR 2004-2005
UVM DEBATE WAS #10 IN THE
CEDA NATIONAL SWEEPSTAKES FOR 2002-2003.
UVM DEBATE WAS #18 IN THE CEDA NATIONAL SWEEPSTAKES FOR 2003-2004.
OUR RECORD |
WINS |
LOSSES |
PERCENTAGE |
PREVIOUSLY |
261 |
270 |
|
JV/NOVICE
NATS |
46 |
26 |
|
2004-2005 RECORD |
307 |
296 |
50.9% |
2003-2004 RECORD |
315 |
374 |
45.7% |
2002-2003 RECORD |
334 |
384 |
46.5% |
HUBER HOUSE!