ModernBrain: Jack Howe/CSULB Grand Sweepstakes Champions
Oct 01, 2022Tournament Updates
Last year, ModernBrain's students began the first academy team to win Speech Sweepstakes at the CSU Long Beach competition. This year, we didn't only repeat as Speech Sweepstakes champions--we were the Overall Sweepstakes winners. It is exceptionally difficult for a group made up predominantly of middle schoolers and underclassmen to outperform some of the most well-resourced high schools in the country, but we did it: we were #1 out of over 100 schools from 10 states.
- Erica, William, Isabel, and Mark closed out Novice Public Forum, sharing the CHAMPIONSHIP (as middle schoolers!). Vivian and Isabella were quarterfinalists.
- Isabel was the TOP SPEAKER in Novice Public Forum. Mark was runner-up.
- Mira was the CHAMPION in Middle School Congress. Takumi was 5th; Albert was 8th.
- Dea took 7th in Open Congress, earning a bid to the Tournament of Champions.
- Daniel and Iva made double-octofinals in Open Policy (as middle schoolers!).
- Luca and Micah made quarterfinals in Novice Policy.
- Annabelle was 5th Speaker and a double-octofinalist in TOC Lincoln-Douglas.
- Jolynn made semifinals, Namrata made quarterfinals, Shiwen, Jasmine, and Amy made octofinals, and Justin made runoffs in JV Lincoln-Douglas.
- Jolynn was Second Speaker in JV Lincoln-Douglas. Amy was 6th, Namrata was 7th, and Jasmine was 8th.
- Krrish made octofinals in Novice Lincoln-Douglas.
- Benji, Milla, Simon, Dario, Jane, and Alena (from Polytechnic) took 3rd and 4th in Open Worlds.
- Dario was the TOP SPEAKER in Open Worlds. Jane was 5th. Alena was 9th.
- Ashley was 2nd in Open POI, earning a bid to the Tournament of Champions.
- Grace was 3rd in Open Declamation (as a middle schooler!).
- Audrey was 4th in Open Original Oratory, earning bids to the Tournament of Champions and NIETOC (as a middle schooler!).
- Anya was the CHAMPION in Novice Humorous Interp.
- Annie was 2nd in Novice Impromptu. Max and Anny made semifinals.
- Anya was 3rd and Anna was 4th in Novice Informative.
- Stella was 4th in Novice Declamation.
- Luna and Ashley made semifinals in Open Impromptu.
- Congratulations to students from other teams we've held workshops for (such as Flintridge Sacred Heart) for their award-winning performances, as well!
Congratulations, too, to our Mock Trial Nationals team! Our students were the champions at the International Mock Trial League tournament, which drew students from three countries.
- Valley International Prep (coached by ModernBrain) was the top-ranked team; they also won the Spirit of IMT award for sportsmanship. ModernBrain's novices took fourth place (losing a tiebreaker for second).
- We had the first and second place middle schoolers (Ethan and Samantha).
- We won six Outstanding Attorney awards (Rebecca, Sidney [x2], Olivia, Ethan, and Garfield) and six Outstanding Witness awards (Billy [x2], Ethan, James, Samantha, and Donya).
