Springing Forward in Fall (ModernBrain Fall 2021 Awards)

We're over a month into Fall--less than two weeks away from Halloween!--and our ModernBrain family shows no sign of slowing down.

Successes in September.

Right after we made history as the only after-school program to earn first place at the CSU Long Beach tournament (out of 170+ teams), our students earned honors at the South Orange County Model United Nations Conference ( Gabriel was an Outstanding Delegate), championships at the Golden Gate Speech Association (first place in Varsity Congress), and amazing results at the Empire Orbit Mock Trial competition (the team we helped coach, which brought together students from Connecticut, Wales, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Illinois, and Massachusetts, was the #1 international team in attendance).

Then, our students swept the Middle School Policy tournament.

• The teams of Audrey/Krystal, Nimishii/Leo, and Zoe/Chenyue were all UNDEFEATED.
• We took first through tenth place in speaker awards: Alexis was 1st, Iva was 2nd, Chenyue was 3rd, Braden was 4th, Zoe was 5th, Aiden was 6th, Lilly was 7th, Audrey was 8th, Ariel was 9th, and Mason was 10th.

Outstanding outcomes in October.

We began the month by winning every available championship in our age brackets at the Professional Speech and Debate Association's October tournament:

• Gloria, Colin, Andrew, and Aluna (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th) won Elementary Debate.
• Gloria, Harry, and Andrew (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) won Elementary Impromptu.
• Gloria (1st) won Elementary Public Address.
• Luna, Meera, Justin, and Garfield (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th) won Junior Debate.
• Izzie, Meera, Shirley, Grace, and Olivia (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th) won Junior Impromptu. 
• Grace, Meera, Luna, and Olivia (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th) won Junior Interpretation.
• Krishnni, Izzie, Grace, and Luna (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th) won Junior Public Address.

Meanwhile, some of our debaters attended their first in-person competition in two years at  the Chuck Ballingall Memorial Invitational Damien High School tournament. Jolynn was the tournament runner-up in Novice Lincoln-Douglas while Annabelle was the runner-up in Open Lincoln-Douglas.

During the second week of October, our team was split between several competitions. Our middle school Public Forum competitors attended the Georgetown Fall tournament, where Erik/Jeevpreet made the top 24, Vivian/Jasmine made the top 16 and Isabelle/Karis earned third place (out of 120 students). Meanwhile, Lincoln and Dea made varsity Congress semifinals at the Nova Titan tournament, Meera/Luna climbed their way to the top four in novice Parliamentary debate at the Cal Parli tournament, and Ashley won a championship in the Western Bay Forensics League.

Finally, last week, Donya earned a championship and bid to the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions in Informative at the CSU Fullerton tournament. Many of us attended Claremont's Bargain Belt tournament, where even our incomplete squad was ranked as the #1 overall academy (and tournament runner-up). Here are our results from Claremont:

• SPEECH RESULTS:
  • CHAMPION, Declamation: Grace W.
  • CHAMPION, Humorous: Audrey
  • CHAMPION, POI: Ashley L.
  • CHAMPION, Novice Declamation: Luna
  • CHAMPION, Novice Humorous: Sophia
  • CHAMPION, Novice POI: Grace A-J.
  • RUNNER-UP, POI: Ashley D.
  • RUNNER-UP, Oratory: Ashley D.
  • RUNNER-UP, Novice Oratory: Yuqiao
  • RUNNER-UP, Novice Humorous: Grace A-J.
  • RUNNER-UP, Novice Impromptu: Olivia
  • 3rd Place, Novice Oratory: Angelina
  • 4th Place, Novice Informative: Dylan
  • 4th Place, Novice Oratory: Jennifer
• DEBATE RESULTS:
  • CHAMPION, Congress Presiding Officer: Dea
  • 4th Place, Novice Congress: Celina
  • 5th Place, Novice Congress: Mira
  • Top 8, Novice Lincoln-Douglas: Jolynn
  • Top 26, Novice Lincoln-Douglas: Ulysses
  • Top 26, Novice Lincoln-Douglas: Dixon
  • Top 26, Novice Lincoln-Douglas: Ellie

The best is yet to come.

If you watch the attached video, taken during our public performance at the Irvine Global Village Festival, you can see the energy, talent, and dedication our students bring to the table. We're grateful for their contributions and looking forward to ending this year in style!