Registration Is Closed for 2011/2012 season

Registration is now closed for the 2011-2012 season. Send us an email to be put on a waiting list.

Season Update: Next Stop?

It’s been an exciting speech and debate season for YSA. The qualifiers, opens, and regional invitationals are now over. The YSAers debated hard, presented well, and enjoyed a splendid series of rigorous tournaments. For some of us, the 2011 season is over and we’ve started to mull over ideas for the next; for others, we’ve got one final lap to go.

But before we move on, let’s pick up where we left off last…

TEXAS CAPITAL QUALIFIER (THSC Texas State Championship)

This tournament was held March 24-26 at Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, and, much like the 2010 Regionals in Austin last year, carried a distinct flavor and atmosphere that made it overall one of our favorite tournaments this season. Here are the results for YSA:

• 1st Place Individual Events Sweepstakes: Madelaine Clay
• 1st Place Duo Interpretation: Ben Amason/Owen Stroud
• 1st Place Illustrated Oratory: Madelaine Clay
• 3rd Place Humorous Interpretation: Ben Amason
• 4th Place Impromptu Speaking: Owen Stroud
• 5th Place Dramatic Interpretation: Madelaine Clay
• 5th Place Persuasive Speaking: Owen Stroud
• 6th Place Humorous Interpretation: Owen Stroud
• 6th Place Individual Events Sweepstakes: Owen Stroud
• 7th Place Persuasive Speaking: Madelaine Clay
• Dramatic Interpretation Semifinalists: Kayley Ryan, Eliza Adams
• Illustrated Oratory Semifinalist: Seth Luster
• Original Oratory Semifinalists: Kayley Ryan, Liesl Lawrence, Ellen Stroud, Darah Welch
• Persuasive Speaking Semifinalist: Alison Louis

 __________________________

BIG COUNTRY QUALIFIER (Abilene, Texas)

• 2nd Place Apologetics: Liesl Lawrence
• 2nd Place Persuasive Speaking: Alison Louis
• 6th Place Dramatic Interpretation: Eliza Adams
  
• 6th Place Original Oratory: Ben Amason
• 14th Place Team Policy Debate: Luke Adams/Darah Welch
• Original Oratory semifinalists: Eliza Adams, Darah Welch

__________________

And finally, we had the final Region 4 tournament, the Invitational. This tournament, held in Arlington, TX on April 28-30, determined who qualifies to the 2011 NCFCA National Championship in Wenham, MA:

The 2011 Region IV Invitational (“Regionals”)

YSAers qualified to the 2011 Regionals in 24 speeches altogether. Two Team Policy debate teams (Adams/Welch and Adams/Amason) also qualified and attended.

• 1st place Illustrated Oratory: Madelaine Clay (PQ)
• 1st Place Persuasive Speaking: Owen Stroud (Q)
• 4th Place Apologetics: Owen Stroud (Q)
• 4th Place Persuasive Speaking: Alison Louis (Q)
  
• 5th Place Original Oratory: Ben Amason (Q)
• 5th Place Persuasive Speaking: Madelaine Clay (PQ)
• 13th Place Team Policy Speaker: Luke Adams
• 14th Place Team Policy Debate: Luke Adams/Darah Welch
  
• Humorous Interpretation Semifinalists: Ben Amason (Q), Owen Stroud (Q)
• Original Oratory Semifinalists: Owen Stroud (Q), Darah Welch (Q)

Five YSA students have earned a Q (Qualified) next to their names!

And now for the next and final stop…

Gordon College in Wenham, MA
Location of the 2011 NCFCA National Championship

The results? Well, you’ll have to check back after June 18, 2011, either to this website or ncfca.org, where the results will be posted. Till then, stay tuned!

It’s been an amazing (and record-breaking!) season for the Young Speakers of Austin club. For now, we’re looking forward to the final lap with much anticipation and excitement!

OPEN HOUSE! Wed. May 11, 3:30-5:00

Come visit and see what Young Speakers of Austin is all about!

Come at 3:30 and stay for as long as you like.

We meet at The Rock United Methodist Church

1901 W. New Hope Dr.

Cedar Park, TX 78613

Registration information for Fall 2011 will be available soon.

YSA: Update on the 2011 Season

So…it’s been a long while since we last posted anything on here, and quite a few things have happened since then. So, without further delay, let’s take a quick look over the past three months to see how the Young Speakers of Austin have been faring in NCFCA speech and debate competition!

Some of the YSA members after the Awards Ceremony at the January Warmup 2011.

JANUARY WARM-UP (January 13-15, 2011). Everybody in the club participated in this first regionally-qualifying tournament of the 2011 season. YSA did amazingly well, and we had a record number of club members break to outrounds in their speeches. We broke competitors to outrounds in Apologetics, Dramatic Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Humorous Interpretation, Illustrated Oratory, Original Oratory (6 speakers!), and Persuasive. Two YSA Team Policy teams also reached octafinals.

Let’s take a look at the breakdown:

Apologetics:

• Owen Stroud (2nd place)
• Alison Louis (Semifinalist)

Dramatic Interpretation:

• Kayley Ryan (3rd place)
• Madelaine Clay (4th place)

Duo Interpretation:

• Amason/Stroud (4th place)

Humorous Interpretation:

• Owen Stroud (1st place)
• Ben Amason (5th place)
• Madelaine Clay (6th place)

Illustrated Oratory:

• Madelaine Clay (1st place)

Original Oratory:

• Owen Stroud (1st place)
• Darah Welch (2nd place)
• Eliza Adams (Semifinalist)
• Ben Amason (Semifinalist)
• Liesl Lawrence (Semifinalist)
• Noah Luster (Semifinalist)

Persuasive:

• Madelaine Clay (3rd place)

Team Policy:

• Alison Louis/Darah Welch (13th place)
• Luke Adams/Josh Latham (14th place)

Team Policy Speaker Awards:

• Luke Adams (7th place)

IE Sweepstakes:

• Owen Stroud (1st place)
• Madelaine Clay (4th place)

This was quite a successful tournament for YSA and a great way to start the season. Complete results can be found here.

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LONE STAR QUALIFIER (January 27-29, 2011). Three YSA competitors attended this second NCFCA Region 4 qualifier of the season, and all of them broke in their speeches. Ben Amason broke to Finals in both his HI and Duo, earning 11th place in Individual Events Sweepstakes. Ellen Stroud qualified for Regionals for the first time, advancing to Semifinals in Original Oratory. Owen Stroud broke in all speech events, moving to Duo Finals with Ben and receiving 5th place, and also earning 5th place IE Sweepstakes.

Apologetics: Owen Stroud (SF)

Duo Interpretation: Amason/Stroud (5th)

Humorous Interpretation: Ben Amason (4th); Owen Stroud (SF)

Impromptu: Owen Stroud (SF)

Original Oratory: Ellen Stroud (SF); Owen Stroud (SF)

IE Sweepstakes: Owen Stroud (5th); Ben Amason (11th)

Complete results can be found here.

~~~~~

TEXAS NATIONAL OPEN (February 23-26, 2011). Around 220 students from across the nation competed at the Texas National Open in Houston. In addition to being a regionally-qualifying tournament, the Open also held slots to the 2011 National Championship for the top two or three competitors in each event. YSA was represented in two nationals slots with Madelaine Clay’s 2nd-place Illustrated Oratory and 1st-place Persuasive. Results for YSA posted below:

Dramatic Interpretation:

• Madelaine Clay (8th place)

Duo Interpretation:

• Ben Amason/Owen Stroud (5th place)

Humorous Interpretation:

• Madelaine Clay (semifinalist)
• Owen Stroud (semifinalists)

Impromptu:

• Owen Stroud (semifinalist)                                             

Illustrated Oratory:

• Madelaine Clay (2nd place, Qualified to Nationals);
• Seth Luster (semifinalist)

Original Oratory:

• Owen Stroud (3rd place);
• Darah Welch (semifinalist)

Persuasive:

• Madelaine Clay (1st place, Qualified to Nationals);
• Alison Louis (semifinalist)

Individual Events Sweepstakes:

• Owen Stroud (6th place);
• Madelaine Clay (7th place)

In Team Policy, Adams/Amason also did exceptionally well, breaking to quarterfinals and finishing at 8th place out of 45 total teams.

~~~~~

So, what’s ahead?

The next tournament up is the Texas Capital Qualifier (earlier known as the Texas State Championship) in Austin, TX at Great Hills Baptist Church, March 24-26, 2011. Information can be found here.

The year has been splendid so far, and we are naturally very excited about the rest of the season. Stay tuned.

Open House! Wednesday, May 11 from 3:30-5:00

Come visit and see what Young Speakers of Austin is all about!

Come at 3:30 and stay for as long as you like.

We meet at The Rock United Methodist Church

1901 W. New Hope Dr.

Cedar Park, TX 78613

Registration information for Fall 2011 will be available soon.

Also, if you’d like to see what we’ve been up to recently, click here (or just scroll down a little).

First Meeting and New Positions!

This Wednesday we had our first meeting at YSA for the speech season!  The returning members met to take on new leadership roles in different areas, and that included appointments, a few speeches…and even an election or two! And now….. *drumroll*

YSA Club Officer positions and staff for the 2010-2011 year!

President: Owen Stroud

Vice President: Luke Adams

Social Committee:
Chairman: Alison Louis
Ben Amason
Maddie Clay
Owen Stroud
Darah Welch

Photographers:
Alison Louis
Danielle Martelloto
Ellen Stroud

Webmaster: Owen Stroud

Food Committee:
Eliza Adams
Liesl Lawrence

Additional plans have also been made for the upcoming Speech workshop for new students next Wednesday, September 8!

Fall 2010

Information for Fall 2010 has now been added to our site. Please check the “About,” “Training,” and “Meeting” pages for these updates.

Once again, tonight is our informational open house. Please stop by and find out more about YSA.

YSA Open House

The Young Speakers of Austin will be hosting an open house to share information about our organization and to demonstrate the training provided at YSA. If Christian speech and communication training interests you or your student please join us Wednesday, May 26 at 7:00.

We will be meeting at The Rock United Methodist church. (2001 West New Hope Drive, Cedar Park, TX)

Also, keep your eye on our community, competitive, and guideline pages as we will be updating those with information for the next year very soon.

YSA description in the Hill Country News

Wanted to share the short write up that YSA received in the Hill Country News for our upcoming presentation at the Cedar Park Heritage Festival. The festival looks like it will be great fun again this year. If anyone’s interested in learning more about YSA, come out to the Heritage Festival, visit our booth, and watch our presentation at 4:00 pm.

DFW Qualifier

 

The second regional qualifiying tournament of the season has come and gone.  YSA sent a total of 9 competitors to the Dallas/Fort Worth area to sharpen their communication skills for the Glory of God!

Congratulations all of the students who participated in the DFW Qualifier!

It was a great tournament!

YSA’s competitors were:

Alex Adams
Luke Adams
Ben Amason
Hunter Artmann
Abby Artmann
Alison Louis
Rachel Louis
Owen Stroud
Darah Welch

Everyone did a fantastic job! Both of our debate teams advanced to the double-octa final round!
Artmann/Adams and Artmann/Welch! Both teams are now qualified for the Regional tournament.

Other results are:
Alex Adams advanced to the semi-final round in persuasive qualifying her for regionals!
Alison Louis advanced to the final round in HI and finished with 8th place qualifying her for regionals!

A special thanks to Rachel Louis and Holden Fox for helping out and being great coaches!
Once again, the parents did an excellent job of judging and helping out! These tournaments require so much volunteer help. We especially appreciate all of the hard work of the DFW area clubs who put this tournament on.