Congratulations to the Apple Valley Debate Team on an impressive start to the 2009-2010 season!

First, the Eagles competed at the Valley Mid-America Cup held in West Des Moines, Iowa in late September. In this varsity-level national tournament, junior Sean Cheren made it to the double-octafinal (top 32), besting a field of over 100 students.

Then, the Eagles competed at their first in-state debate tournament at Lakeville South High School on October 3rd. Impressive finishes were made by juniors Sean Cheren and Jon Slater, as both placed in the top six of the tournament.

At Bloomington Jefferson on October 10th, the Eagles had one of their most outstanding finishes yet. Junior Jon Slater was named champion in varsity LD, sophomore John Granlund was named champion in JV LD, and freshmen Miriam Kelberg, Georgia Schmitt, and Miranda Lawell all received awards for top-five finishes. In addition, junior Rhett Gopaul and senior Cameron Michelsen were named runners-up in the varsity division of Public Forum debate.

On October 16-17th, the team competed at their first two-day tournament of the season at the University of Minnesota. Once again reaching elimination rounds, junior Jon Slater reached semifinals, placing in the top four in a very large varsity division. In novice, freshmen Max Courtright, Miriam Kelberg, and Nader Helmy all received speaking awards in the top seven for their performances.

Most recently at Hopkins High School on October 23rd – 24th, Apple Valley was named the team champions in LD debate! This impressive award was given based on results from the top three varsity and top three novice LD debaters. In novice, two debaters reach elimination rounds; sophomore John Granlund reached the quarterfinal round (top and junior Jon Slater reached the semifinal round (top 4). In novice LD debate, Apple Valley had six out of the eight quarterfinalists in the tournament; freshmen Rand Silvers, Max Courtright, Miranda Lawell, and Mallory Lammers were all named quarterfinalsts, while freshmen Miriam Kelberg and Georgia Schmitt were named semifinalists. Congratulations to the entire team on being named team champions of the Hopkins Royal Cup!

A belated congratulations to the Eagles performance this past Saturday at Eastview. The team finished in 2nd place in sweepstakes behind Eagan.

Apple Valley had 24 honor finalists and 11 finalists. Among the noteworthy accomplishments, Devin Evers and Ellen Roos won their honor final rounds in both Extemp. Speaking and Humorous respectively. Among finalists, 6 of them placed in the top 2! Those include:

Emily Tappanier - 2nd (Extemp. Reading)
Jamaka Young - 2nd (Poetry)
Szuyin Leow - 2nd (Informative)
Susie Gerbensky - 2nd (Oratory)
Tim Greenfield - 2nd (Extemp. Speaking)
Olusheun Olupitan - CHAMPION (Prose)

Coming up is Lakeville North, followed by NFL Qualifiers for select individuals. Keep it up!

It was another successful weekend for the Eagle Speech Team, taking 1st place in Team Sweepstakes over Eastview.

As far as individual accomplishments, AV had several noteworthy performances:

-Jamaka Young won 2 championships (one in Poetry and the other in Duo with her partner, Katie Anderson). That Duo was also one of three AV entries to go 1-1-1 in prelims, along with Olusheun Olupitan in Prose and Tim Greenfield in Extemp. Speaking.

-Sarah Brickner received 4th place in Informative as a Novice!

-Szuyin Leow received 3rd place in Informative, as well as 4th place in Original Oratory.

-Xiao Xiao Lou received 2nd place in Great Speeches and 5th place in Original Oratory.

-Sam Thompson was the champion of Creative Expression.

-Tim Greenfield and Devin Evers finished in 1st and 2nd place in Extemp. Speaking respectively, the first 1-2 sweep for AV in a single category this year!

In addition to those feats, Apple Valley had 2 Honor Final Champions. Ellen Roos took home 1st in the Humorous honor round, while Orrin Stone won the Discussion honor round. Other finalists for AV included:

-Ben Cohen - 5th - Creative
-Brittany Caplin - 4th - Discussion
-Kristina Gontcharova - 3rd - Discussion
-Olusheun Olupitan - 3rd - Prose
-Eric Engstrom - 2nd - Prose

This upcoming week is the Eastview Invitational. Typically one of the biggest tournaments of the year, there will be multiple honor final rounds and more opportunities for AV to bring home some awards!

Congratulations to the entire AV Speech team for another successful performance this past weekend at our home tournament, the Minneapple. Although team sweepstakes points were not accounted for, there were several team members who had excellent individual performances.

First, a congrats to the following four individuals who all picket-fenced their preliminary rounds (got scores of 1-1-1):

Sarah Brickner - Novice Informative
Tatiana Burton - Novice Poetry
Kirstie Kimball - Novice Extemp. Speaking
Kristina Gontcharova - Varsity Discussion

Our novices held their own against the competition over at Falcon Ridge. There were a total of 11 finalist entries, including:

Taylor Anne Barriusa - 7th - Extemp. Reading
Kate Brown - 6th - Extemp. Reading
Michelle Gherity - 6th - Discussion
Sarah Brickner - 6th - Informative
MacKenzie Ellis / Nick Williams - 6th - Duo
Sade Young - 5th - Drama
Elise Reller - 5th - Storytelling
Liv Sherman - 5th - Extemp. Reading
Kirstie Kimball - 5th - Extemp. Speaking
Tatiana Burton - 4th - Poetry
Mia Owen - 4th - Informative

Over at AVHS, Varsity members took home two honor final round titles (Sam Thompson in Creative and Jamaka Young in Poetry), had 13 finalists and took home 5 apples! Finalists included:

Devin Evers - 7th - Extemp. Speaking
Susie Gerbensky / John Hofmeister - 7th - Duo
Matt Warns - 6th - Extemp. Reading
Michelle Keohane - 5th - Informative
Brittany Caplin - 5th - Discussion
Olusheun Olupitan - 4th - Oratory
Hannah Koch - 4th - Great Speeches
Emily Tappanier - 4th - Informative

And our apple winners were:

Kristina Gontcharova - 3rd - Discussion
Olusheun Olupitan - 2nd - Prose
Katie Anderson / Jamaka Young - 2nd - Duo
Xiao Xiao Lou - CHAMPION - Great Speeches
Szuyin Leow - CHAMPION - Informative

This upcoming week is Forest Lake, which will be the first tournament to have solely Finals and Honor Finals without a separate Novice Division. Let’s keep up the good work!

A belated congratulations to everyone who participated at the 1st Annual Lakeville South Invitational this past weekend. Apple Valley had a very impressive showing. The team took 2nd in sweepstakes, behind Eagan but ahead of cross-town rival Eastview!

Among individual accomplishments, AV had Varsity champions in four events! Junior Jamaka Young took 1st place in Poetry, along with 1st in Duo with her partner, senior Katie Anderson. Senior Eric Engstrom won Prose, while senior Xiao Xiao Lou won Great Speeches. Additionally, freshman novice Alexandra Robinson won the Novice final round of Great Speeches, completing the category sweep for the Eagles.

Our home tournament, the Minneapple, is this weekend. Everyone keep up the hard work and bring home some apples!

Apple Valley officially closed its season with a fantastic finish. Sarah won the final round and the tournament in Original Oratory. Additionally, she was awarded with the best overall performance of the tournment, (meaning she had the best ranks of any student in all of the speech events). She was awarded scholarship money for winning the event, best overall performance, and an additional scholarship from the Patrick Henry Society.

In the supplemental event of Expository, Ronni took second place. She had an outstanding tournment and an outstanding final round.

The AVHS speech team, as a whole, did very well. They were named a School of Excellence, placing it in the top 10 in the country– over 950 schools were in attendance.

Congratulations to all students for their fantastic performances this week.