ModernBrain Storms the Beach (1st Place Out of 170+ Teams!)

This weekend, ModernBrain Speech and Debate sent over 50 entries to the prestigious Jack Howe Invitational (an interscholastic public speaking contest hosted by CSU Long Beach). After three days of engaging in competition against over 170 teams (including nationally-ranked private schools and other academies), we emerged victorious: FIRST PLACE in Speech Team Sweepstakes.

This is a monumental achievement. An afterschool academy has never won this tournament's team award. There are several reasons why.

• First, if our students can compete with a team under their school's name, we encourage them to do so. When this happens, ModernBrain doesn't earn any sweepstakes points (which is fine by us as long as our students are learning). In this case, despite many of our students competing under different banners, our ModernBrain squad still outperformed the competition.
• Second, it's hard for students from so many schools across the country to develop a sense of teamwork and communal spirit. We can't all meet in the same classrooms every day. Despite this, our systems engendered a sense of togetherness, even as we practiced and performed remotely.
• Finally, most academies are specialists. They might excel in a few forms of debate or speech, but rarely both. ModernBrain, thanks to our diverse group of excellent coaches, has no specialty. We exceed expectations across the board.

Here are our results!

• SPEECH RESULTS:
  • CHAMPION, Open Programmed Oral Interp: Ashley L.
  • CHAMPION, Novice Dramatic Interp: Luna
  • CHAMPION, Novice Informative: Sophia
  • RUNNER-UP, Open Oratory: Ashley D.
  • RUNNER-UP, Novice Oratorical Interp: Luna
  • Third Place, Open Programmed Oral Interp: Ashley D.
  • Third Place, Novice Humorous Interp: Grace
  • Third Place, Novice Oratory: Krishnni
  • Third Place, Novice Informative: Izzie
  • Fourth Place, Open Informative: Shirley
  • Fourth Place, Open Oratorical Interp: Emily
  • Fourth Place, Novice Humorous Interp: Sophia
  • Sixth Place, Novice Oratorical Interp: Grace
  • Sixth Place, Novice Oratory: Olivia
  • Semifinals, Open Impromptu: Meera
  • Semifinals, Novice Impromptu: Olivia
  • Semifinals, Novice Impromptu: Jason
  • Semifinals, Novice Impromptu: Marcel
  • Semifinals, Novice Impromptu: Brielle
• DEBATE RESULTS:
  • CHAMPION, Middle School Congress: Celine
  • TOP SPEAKER, JV Lincoln-Douglas: Ethan
  • Top Four, JV Lincoln-Douglas: Ethan
  • Third Place, JV Policy Speaker: Iva
  • Fifth Place, JV Lincoln-Douglas Speaker: Simran
  • Top Eight, TOC Lincoln-Douglas: Joseph
  • Top Eight, Open Policy: Matthew and Jesse
  • Top Eight, JV Policy: Alexis and Iva
    
  • Top Eight, Novice Policy: Mason and Aiden
  • Sixth Place, Middle School Congress: Mira
  • Sixth Place, JV Policy Speaker: Alexis
  • Seventh Place, Open Congress: Kalen
  • Seventh Place, Novice Policy Speaker: Mason
  • Ninth Place, TOC Lincoln-Douglas Speaker: Annabelle
  • Semifinals, Open Congress: Lincoln
  • Semifinals, Open Congress: Dea
  • Semifinals, Open Congress: Kerry
  • Top 14, Middle School Public Forum: Shiwen and Jeevpreet
    
  • Top 29, TOC Lincoln-Douglas: Annabelle

Ashley D. (Oratory and Programmed Oral Interp), Ashley L. (Programmed Oral Interp), Kalen (Congress), Lincoln (Congress), Matthew (Policy), and Jesse (Policy) earned bids to the Tournament of Champions.

Ashley D. (Oratory) and Ashley L. (Programmed Oral Interp) earned bids to the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions.

Congratulations to every student and guardian who tried their best at this competition! Here's a special shoutout to our other students, some of whom placed at the Greenhill competition (and one of whom took FIRST PLACE at the Yale tournament). Winning isn't our primary goal, but it's often the outcome.