Extemp Central

The last two weeks has been a busy one for the National Points Race and the new 2011-2012 Extemp Central National Points Race standings have been released. These standings reflect the results of the James Logan MLK Invitational, the Barkley Forum, and the Schwan’s Speech Spectacular.  Find out who went up, who went down, and who stayed put by clicking on the National Points Race tab above or by clicking here.

The list of participants in this year’s Texas Capital City Extemp Round Robin have been announced.  The tournament will feature sixteen Texas extempers and will take place this weekend.  Extemp Central wishes these participants the best of luck and we will provide you with the results of the tournament next week.

*Blade Angel (Lake Travis High School)
*Marcela Arevalo (Klein High School)
*Lindsey Butler (Hendrickson High School)
*Tim Dominguez (Southlake Carroll High School)
*David Engleman (L.C. Anderson High School)
*Cyrus Ghaznavi (The Parish Episcopal School)
*Tushar Madan (Plano West High School)
*Matt Marxer (Byron Nelson High School)
*Alessandro Pauri (Flower Mound High School)
*Diana Pop (Newman Smith High School)
*Sanjana Puri (Flower Mound High School)
*Alex Pustelnyk (Lake Travis High School)
*Tanya Rajan (Newman Smith High School)
*Zachary Stone (Plano West High School)
*Arvind Venkataraman (Southlake Carroll High School)
*Sara Wofford (L.C. Anderson High School)

Last weekend the Schwan’s Speech Spectacular, a new tournament in the National Points Race, was held and MBA Round Robin Champion Lily Nellans of Des Moines Roosevelt High School in Iowa bested fifty-nine other extempers to claim the title.  Nellans defeated teammate and National Points Race leader Nathan Leys in the final round to earn her third victory in a National Points Race tournament this season.  The Schwan’s Speech Spectacular is a fifth tier tournament in the National Points Race, so only the finalists earned National Points Race points.  The tournament is also a qualifying tournament for the Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC).

Here are the results of the tournament (Full results can be accessed here):
[...]

Here are the results of the Columbia Invitational tournament, held on January 20-22nd at Columbia University in New York, New York.  The tournament is a qualifier for the 2012 Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) at Northwestern University:

At least week’s Barkely Forum, 49 extempers battled for the title in the first fourth tier tournament of the second semester.  Ben Constine of Yorktown High School in Virginia scored the second national circuit title of his career, outlasting James Fishback of IB-Boyd Anderson High School in Florida and defending champion and MBA runner-up Isabelle Taft of Henry W. Grady High School in Georgia.  Since the Barkley Forum in a fourth tier tournament, all of the extempers that made the semi-final round and beyond will earn National Points Race points.  All of the extempers that broke at the tournament have earned a bid to this year’s Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) at Northwestern University.  The round was recorded and will be posted to NFL TV.  When it is posted, Extemp Central will provide a link to it.

Here are the full results from the Barkley Forum:
[...]

The James Logan MLK Invitational, which is a new addition to this year’s National Points Race, was held several weeks ago in Union City, California.  The tournament splits the field into United States and International Extemp categories.  Mike Zhu of Dougherty Valley High School in California won U.S. Extemp and John Cherian of Bellarmine College Prep in California won International Extemp.  Bellarmine College Prep led all of the other schools in the tournament by placing the top three competitors in International Extemp and having a finalist in U.S. Extemp.  Since extempers cannot enter both categories at MLK, Extemp Central does not need to worry about double counting like we do at Florida Blue Key or St. Mark’s.  As a result, all finalists in each category earn points, although teams are still capped, with their top three finishers counting for points for the National Team Points Race.

Here are the results of the James Logan High School MLK Invitational (full results can be found here):
[...]

1.  Will David Cameron’s decision to adopt a conciliatory approach on EU fiscal matters hurt his standing among British conservatives?
2.  Would Syria’s fall be a major blow to Hezbollah?
3.  Will Netanyahu see out his term as Israeli prime minister?
4.  Is state capitalism the Marxism of the 21st century?
5.  Will France’s Constitutional Court find that a bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide is unconstitutional?
6.  How can the AU become a more efficient international organization?
7.  Should Abdoulaye Wade have been allowed to run for re-election in Senegal?
8.  What message is the UK sending to Argentina by sending Prince William on a tour of duty of the Falkland Islands?
9.  Have liberals been outmanuevered in the aftermath of the Egyptian revolution?
10.  Will Russia back the UN draft resolution against Syria?

Here are the answers to this week’s news quiz.
[...]

1.  Will Ron Paul be the kingmaker of this year’s Republican convention?
2.  Which GOP presidential candidate would appeal most to Latino voters?
3.  Were the auto bailouts successful? 
4.  Should there be a nationwide ban on student use of cell phones in school?
5.  Does the executive pardon process at the federal and state level need to be reformed? 
6.  If the Occupy protests get violent, will that destroy the credibility of the movement?
7.  Is the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that religious-affiliated employers pay for contraception unconstitutional?
8.  How much is Facebook worth?
9.  What steps does Newt Gingrich need to take to win over female voters?
10.  How much of a say should parents have in school curriculum?

Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Good luck!
[...]