December 2023
Coach El's December Newsletter
Coach El here with the last newsletter of 2023! I hope everyone’s year is wrapping up nicely, you have fun and relaxing plans for our upcoming holiday break and that your 2024 is looking bright!
Volunteer thank you!
I would be remiss to not express the immense gratitude I have for this speech and debate community.
Thank you so much to everyone who has volunteered as carpool drivers, judges, and at the Trojan Classic! You are a gift to this community and help sustain our debate team. I am deeply appreciative of everyone who helps facilitate our weekend speech and debate endeavors.
Thank you also to our booster club and our booster club board members for supporting the team and especially for supporting me! The work you do behind the scenes is crucial to keeping this team going and I couldn't imagine running this team without y'all!!
I tell everyone that one of the best parts about working at L.C. Anderson is the family community and I truly mean it. When Michael Jennings approached me about coaching this team, he spoke highly of this community and he could not have been more right about how unique, strong, and caring you are.
You all have been amazing and have sustained me throughout the year. Every kind word or email, every time you volunteer, and the love you give your students that shines through them in my classroom are immensely valuable. Sometimes I forget that it’s only my 2nd year teaching because it feels like I’ve been doing this forever, in the best way. Thank you for uplifting, strengthening, chaperoning, driving, and supporting this team and me. I am so grateful for this team and this community.
Fundraising and merch!
There is no better holiday gift than an Anderson debate beanie, tote bag, or t-shirt! Link to merch store here- https://www.andersonspeechdebate.org/store
Proceeds from merch go back to the boosters! Which means they go directly back to keeping this program going!
Our givebutter fundraiser is still going! Thanks to our students, we've raised about 15% of our goal and we're not done yet! I will link both the team page and my page below. This funding helps us get to national tournaments, especially for competitive and dedicated students whose families cannot afford to send them to these tournaments. Every donation is deeply appreciated by our community! Even if you can't donate now, sharing our fundraiser with your friends, families, communities, and social media pages is immensely helpful!
Fundraiser link- team: https://givebutter.com/AHSSpeechandDebate
Coach- https://givebutter.com/AHSSpeechandDebate/coachcontreras
December tournaments
Dripping Springs- carpool volunteers needed! I emailed all attendees today (Monday 12/4) and asked for more drivers. Please sign up to drive carpool and/or judge speech here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfW-v-K7a66S8o2VkQiSmJNDmVut4HxVpTaQMPHlk6IrkE8Dg/viewform?usp=sf_link
Spring Tournament Preview
I've been reminding students that they are all expected to compete at 6 tournaments over the course of the school year. Here are some of the tournaments they can attend in the spring!
January:
5-6: Virtual Northland Christian tournament. After talking to students, I decided not traveling over the winter break would be the best thing for me and the team's momentum through the school year and canceled the Churchill tournament
.
I will post this sign-up this week and it will close Friday, December 22. Students will not be able to come to Anderson to compete, since the school is closed for the break. This tournament is entirely online. Everyone is welcome to sign up!
12: UIL CX District tournament. This tournament is only for cross-examination debate, it'll be a one-day tournament and the top 3 teams will be eligible for UIL CX State in March. I can only enter 3 teams from LC so this will be a small tournament.
12-13: Vista Ridge tournament. I will post the sign-up before the break and close it on Friday, January 5th. This will be in person at Vista Ridge High School in Cedar Park, Texas. This tournament is open to everyone!
19-20: Lake Travis tournament. The Lake Travis tournament is open to everyone!
27: LBJ High School tournament. I will be at the Emory University tournament with 10 of our varsity students so I won't personally be able to attend this tournament. Our amazing alum, Eliza Avramova and Will Erard will chaperone and facilitate the carpool for this one-day tournament here in Austin. Fun fact- my dad actually attended LBJ High School in the 70's! Their debate program is in it's first year and I want us to attend and show our support for this school.
February
2-3: Westlake Chap Classic. This will be open to everyone on the team! Everyone competing at Harvard in extemporaneous speaking, Lincoln-Douglas debate, or Public Forum debate will be expected to attend to practice before we travel. All other Harvard attendees are strongly encouraged to attend.
17-19: Harvard!! I am super excited to take this team to Boston. I will have an informal google form 'application' for students to complete when we return from winter break. Any varsity member that competed in the fall semester 2 or more times will be eligible. While I hesitate to take freshmen out of state, if any novices have earned state points by January 22nd, I will be open to taking them to Harvard. As a reminder, state points can only be earned in varsity speech and debate events. One exciting aspect of this tournament is that we will be able to use public transportation to move between the airport, hotel, and university!
I am hoping a few more local tournaments will be held in Austin or San Antonio in January and February and will post about those on Blend as I see them.
March
March is a big month for this team! We have 3 important tournaments on the calendar.
1. The Texas Forensic Association State Tournament. TFA State is only open to qualifiers who have earned 10 points in their event. We will leave for state on Wednesday, March 6, the tournament lasts from the 7-9, and we will return on Sunday, March 10.
2. UIL CX State. This is also only open to qualifiers. It will be at UT Austin, likely on March 14 and 15.
3. National Speech and Debate Association District/National Qualifier tournament. The NSDA holds these tournaments to qualify students to the national tournament in June. This will take place nearby (at Hendrickson High School) on March 22 and 23. We can only enter a limited number of students in each event so priority will be given to varsity team members.
After March, our only tournaments will be the Tournament of Champions in April and the NSDA National Tournament in June, both of which are only open to qualifying students.
Speech and Debate Showcase!
Save the date for our annual showcase. This year, I have the theater reserved for Saturday, May 4th, 2024!
I have had an amazing semester with your students! Thank you for raising such awesome human beings, it's an honor and a privilege to coach this team. Zimmerman and I love this school and these kids.
I hope you all have a happy, merry, joyful, peaceful, and pleasant winter holiday season.
If you have any questions, comments, concerns, ideas, or feedback, my email inbox is always open- elizabeth.s.contreras@austinisd.org.
with gratitude,
Coach El Contreras