About me:

I am the congressional debate coach at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, IA.

I graduated in 2023 from East High School in Des Moines, IA.

I competed in Congressional Debate my Junior and Senior year of high school, during this time I was a 1x State Champion, 2x NSDA Nationals Qualifier, 2x State Championship Runner up, and a finalist in multiple National Circuit & TOC tournaments.

I will try my best to give good feedback for speakers and PO's, and will judge anyone (including my own competitors) fairly.

For everyone:

Try your best! Even if you are a novice I can truly appreciate it when people try in a round, you can only improve if you try your best.

Be kind and respectful. I can appreciate aggressive competitors but you should be able to tell the difference between aggressive debate and just being rude.

Most importantly have fun!

Congress:

1st Aff: This is one of 2 speeches that I am okay with not being as extemporaneous as other speeches. However, this is not an excuse to read the speech straight from your laptop or notepad, still try to have good eye contact and don't spend 3 minutes reading verbatim.

1st Neg: This is the other speech I am a little lenient with not being extemporaneous, but this speech needs to have some rebuttal. I expect you to spend most of your speech laying out your case against the bill, but start rebutting the Aff in your speech.

Following Speeches:These should be mostly extemporaneous and should be rebutting the other sides argument. I will always appreciate new information being introduced to the round and do not be afraid to do so. DO NOT be redundant! I will not give you a good speech score if your speech is essentially the same as other competitors.

Questioning: I highly urge you to use Direct Questioning over indirect, it adds so much more to the round and adds a real element to debate over indirect. I like aggressive questioning too, If a speech has a flaw that you can use in questioning to help your side, use it. Use your time wisely and ask good questions.

Presiding:If you can make the round run really smoothly and have little issues with rules or dealing with any issues, I will rank you highly. I PO'd at least 1 round at almost all my senior year tournaments, got really good feedback at national tournaments for PO'ing and can truly can appreciate a good PO. This also means that I will give PO's good feedback, however if you stumble through the round and ask the Parliamentarian for help a lot, this will drop your ranking. If you have any questions about PO'ing outside of round feel free to ask me.

Overall:Use good arguments, use your 3 minutes really well. I really appreciate good speech delivery too, not just good argumentation, so have emotion and do your best. If you have any questions for me feel free to ask me outside of round.

I mainly judge congressional debate and speaking events. I'll include information for how I evaluate PO's and speeches in different sections.

1. For Everyone Speeches should be well organized. By this I mean the listener should be able to clearly delineate between your points, introduction, and conclusion. If the delineation between these things is unclear to me, the listener, your speech isn't organized enough.

2. For Everyone Your speech, when appropriate, should be well supported by reliable and relevant sources. If you can't find research or credible analysis to back up a point that doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't make it but your speech shouldn't be entirely filled with this type of argument. Additionally, I would caution you to avoid simply making an appeal to authority in your speech make sure the source of your information is properly credentialed before making a claim

3.For Everyone I prefer an extemporaneous delivery. Computers/notepads should be used as a reference rather than as a script. I also prefer a more polished delivery in which eye contact is more frequently maintained and a students movement is controlled so that it enhances the speech rather than distracts the listener. I can handle faster speech speeds but to a reasonable limit. I need people to speak at a reasonable volume. I need to be able to hear you but yelling is also inappropriate

4. In congress Your speech should be bringing up new information. If your points have already been made in round than don't waste everyone's time by repeating them. Secondly, While I understand that crystalization speeches are popular in the congressional "meta" they have to be well done and actually work to clearly delineate why one sides arguments are preferable to the other sides arguments. If all you have done is summarize the arguments the other speakers have made in round you have wasted everyone's time.

5.In Congress this is congressional debate not congressional speech. While I can understand a lack of clash in the authorship speech I believe that all other speeches in a cycle of debate should make a clear attempt at refuting the specific arguments that other speakers have made in round. Bonus points if you can set up these arguments using a questioning block to draw attention to the flaws in your opponents logic.

6.In Congress If you are speaking in the negation please don't center your argument around a problem that can be amended away. Write an amendment. If your problem with a bill is that it appropriates 20 million dollars instead of the 25 million that it should have fix that problem with an amendment.

7. In Congress While the PO is responsible for running a smooth and equitable chamber it is not only the responsibility of the PO. debaters that have a clear understanding of the rules and don't disrupt the chamber by making incorrect motions or violate chamber rules will be more highly ranked.

8. For Debate Events While I thoroughly enjoyed my time in debate I recognize that I am not a competitor thus it is not my responsibility to counter problematic arguments in round. If a competitor says something logically incoherent my belief is that it is the responsibility of the other debaters to actually call you out on it. If the chamber doesn't expose these problems during questioning, cross fire, or cross examination than I don't feel It is my responsibility to weigh it. However, I do think it is my responsibility to hold a fair round if someone is clearly engaging in academic dishonesty or violating the rules of the event it is absolutely my responsibility to step in and ensure the rules are being followed. ie: if I think a factual inaccuracy is mild or the result of error I will expect your competitors to call it out. If a factual inaccuracy is misrepresentation of a source or outright fabrication I have no qualms interjecting whether your opponent says something or not.

9.For Presiding Officers in Congress I care that you run a smooth and equitable chamber. Make sure you are properly following rules for recency and precedence. Additionally, where rules/procedural issues arise I expect you to be able to handle them without relying on the parli. I will say that I typically have a hard time ranking PO's at the top of the chamber unless the quality of debate is exceedingly low or the PO is exceptionally proficient. However I will usually rank the PO in the top 5 if there are no serious errors in the way they conduct their chamber.

10.For Debate Events I realize that this is debate and not speech and so I don't decide debate rounds on speaking skills but rather the argumentation. That being said an argument rendered incomprehensible because of the rate of a persons speaking is the same as an argument not made on my ballot. I will not dig through a typed document to figure out what you are trying to say. Your job is to communicate your arguments to me. My job is to decide who wins a round. My job isn't to try and figure out what you are saying.

Final Thoughts

1. I don't care about how you are dressed. Though understand that other judges may care about that kind of thing even though they shouldn't.
2. I'm not typically a fan of silly arguments with the exception of the final speech in a round of congress but make sure everyone knows you are having fun.
3. Please make sure your judges are ready before stampeding into a speech. I want to make sure that I've found the appropriate place on my ballot to provide you adequate feedback.