Photo Source: www.mn.gov
COMMUNITY
CONGRESS AT THE CAPITOL Taking Pride at Districts
by Angela Zhong
F
or more than 20 years, the Northern Lights, Central Minnesota, and Southern Minnesota NSDA districts have coalesced and combined the date and site of their district Congressional Debate tournament through some crafty coordination. Whether or not they qualify, Minnesota Congress students are in for a treat at their state capitol building.
Months in
the Making
One of the key ingredients to a well-run tournament is a pool of experienced and punctual judges, especially at important ones such as the district tournament series. For districts that are spread out, it can be nearly impossible to consolidate the required number of judges for a tournament
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when judges may have to take time off of work and travel hours at a time to get to the venue itself. In light of this obstacle, Central Minnesota chair Zach Prax explains the inspiration for merging their district qualifiers into what they refer to as “Congress at the Capitol.” “By using judges from other districts, we are able to meet the requirement of having unaffiliated judges adjudicate our Congress chambers,” Zach explains. “We do have to hire some outside judges, but when each school is obligated to bring one judge, and we can trade that judge with the other districts, it is much easier to follow those rules.” Other NSDA districts such as Nebraska and Nebraska South follow a similar model for their tournaments.
Zach goes on to describe how the tournament “utilizes other districts’ schoolobligated judges for a much cheaper cost. [This saves] money for nicer awards or other tournaments where we really need a higher number of outside, nonschool provided judges in other speech and debate events, and [reduces] the entry fee that schools have to pay throughout the entire district tournament series.”
Challenges Of course, these benefits only occur through prior coordination. Zach admits that some difficulties can arise with so many districts and competitors. However, ensuring that all of the districts are on the same page in planning and
organizing memberships has definitely helped. “To work together, we thought it was important that each chamber have the same rules regarding the NSDA’s internet pilot, Congress pilot, and so on,” Zach says. “Having a set of rules in one district, and a different set of rules in another, when they are both at the same site—[or] having judges from one district judge another— might lead to chaos.“ Andrew Tichy, head debate coach at Moorhead High School and chair of the Northern Lights District, echoes these difficulties. He adds, “Traveling long distances for a tournament certainly poses some challenges for our coaches and students— arranging transportation, hotels, making up schoolwork, etc.”