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Westwood Debate Booster Club and United Way As
you may already know the Westwood Debate Booster club is running low on
funds for this year. Our students need funds to be successful in the
Debate program (e.g. for assistant coaches, etc.), so we need your
help. Through your company Foundation Matching Gifts program or United
Way, employees can donate to an eligible non-profit organization such
as the Westwood Debate Booster Club (TAX ID is 61-1531801). Employers
often provide a dollar for dollar match for these contributions. Please
consider this when you are planning any United Way donations at work.
For more information, you can contact Shyla Ravikumar . As always, the Westwood Booster Club really appreciates your constant support to help make our students successful.
Westwood Varsity Policy Debate Students Continue Winning Ways
Our Varsity Policy Debate students have continued their winning ways at recent tournaments. At the SF Austin High School Texas Forensics Association tournament on 11/6-7, the Eric Cervini/Nikhil Kumar team went 3-1 in preliminaries and earned 2nd place while the Varun Iyengar/Zofia Yellin team went 4-0 in preliminaries and earned 3rd place! The Jacob Loehr/Alex Munoz, Ashvin Bashyam/Alexis Kostun, and Anuj Kudva/Kapil Raghuraman teams all tied for 5th place. At
the Hays High School Texas Forensics Association tournament on
11/13-14, the Niki Nallapati/Zofia Yellin team went 4-1 and made it to
the quarterfinals. The Kayleigh Ferguson/Varun Iyengar, Evan Hearn/Ben Koons, and Anuj Kudva/Kapil Raghuraman teams also participated.At the Round Rock High School Texas Forensics Association tournament on 11/20-21, Westwood had an especially strong showing. The
Anuj Kudva/Kapil Raghuraman team took first place, the Alexis
Kostun/Nishu Metha and Austin Louden/Abhay Raina teams tied for 3rd place, and the Balam Budwai/Cristina Qiu team earned 5th place! In addition, Abe was 1st speaker and Austin was 2nd!
The Jackie Chen/Varun Koneru, Kayleigh Ferguson/Varun Iyengar, Jacob
Loehr/Alex Munoz, and Eric Cervini/Nikhil Kumar teams each went 3-1 in
the preliminaries but did not break into the quarterfinal elimination
rounds.Congratulations to our debaters, Mr. Martin, and the assistant coaches!
Westwood LD and Extemporaneous Speech/Debate Students Perform Admirably Our
Lincoln Douglas (LD) and Extemporaneous speech and debate students have
performed admirably at recent speech/debate tournaments. In Extemporaneous Speech competition at the SF Austin High School Texas Forensics Association tournament on 11/6-7, Rishi Goel earned second place in Foreign Extemporaneous competition while Priyanka Deshpande and Mark Jbeily took 3rd place in Foreign and Domestic Extemporaneous competition respectively!In Lincoln Douglas Debate at the Hays High School Texas Forensics Association tournament on 11/13-14, Jessica Jiang went 4-0 in the preliminaries and made it to the quarterfinals, earning second in overall speaker points. Shantanu
Banerjee and David Ememianov also participated in Lincoln Douglas
competition. In Public Forum Debate, the Satya Kantipudi/Daniel Li team
went 4-0 in the preliminaries and made it to the quarterfinals. Diyva Ramamoorthy earned 5th place in Foreign Extemporaneous speech competition. In
Lincoln Douglas Debate at the Round Rock High School Texas Forensics
Association tournament on 11/20-21, Jessica Jiang went 4-0 in the
preliminaries and took 3rd place while David Emelianov went 3-1 and earned 5th place. Leslie Kim also participated. In Foreigh Extemporaneous speech competition, Pia Sur earned 3rd place overall, while Rishi Goel earned 5th place. Priyanka Deshpande and Mark Jbeily also participated in Foreign and Domestic Extemporaneous speech competition respectively. Priyanka Deshpande and Pia Sur also participated as a team in Public Forum Debate.
Congratulations to our debaters, Mr. Martin, and the assistant coaches!
Westwood First Year Debaters Showing Outstanding Potential
Our
first year/novice debaters have been demonstrating outstanding
potential with their successful showing and winning ways in recent
debate tournaments. In Novice Policy Debate at the Austin
Area Novice Tournament on 10/31, the Preethi Balakrishnan/Shruti
Subramanian, Atharva Joshi/Michael Wyzykowski, and Russell Yang/Vamsi
Potluri teams were 3-0, the Priya Arunachalam/Mary Jiang, Jessica
Hwang/Justine Sheu, Aoyu Li/Marya Ishaq, and Sneha Shrothriya/Neethi
Nayak teams were 2-1, and the Dohun Kim/Rohan Reddy team was 1-2. In Novice Lincoln Douglas debate at this tournament, Urmilla Banerjee went 2-1. In Novice Policy Debate at the SF Austin High School Texas Forensics Association tournament on 11/6-7, the
Sanjai Bashyam/Victor Ng and Dohun Kim/Russell Yang teams tied for
first place, with Do Hun receiving the highest speaker points! In Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate, Urmilla Banerjee likewise earned first place! In Novice Policy Debate at the Hays High School Texas Forensics Association tournament on 11/13-14, the Vamsi Potluri/Russell Yang team went 5-0 and earned first place! The Abhishek Dendukuri/Steven Su team went 4-1 and the Zeyi Lin/Justin Waldo team went 3-2,.In Novice Policy Debate at the Round Rock High School Texas Forensics Association tournament on 11/20-21, the Priya Arunachalam/Michael Wyzykowski team went 4-0 in the preliminaries and took first place! The Justin Waldo/Russel Yang team went 3-1 in the preliminaries and earned 2nd place, while the Dohun Kim/Rohan Reddy team went 4-0 in the preliminaries and earned 5th place. The Preethi Balakrishnan/Shruti Subramanian, Kristi Chang/Esha Kacker, and Archana Jeeji/Jenny Lai teams also participated. In Novice Lincoln Douglas Debate, Urmilla Banerjee, Eric Liu, and Aparana Singh went 2-2 in the preliminaries.
Congratulations to our debaters, Mr. Martin, and the assistant coaches! |
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Westwood Debate Continues Strong Performance
Our Westwood debate students continued their strong performance this month in the John Jay and Ronald Reagan tournaments. In
the John Jay tournament Divya Ramamoorthy earned 2nd place in DX and
Priyanka Deshpande and Rishi Goel made it to the semifinal found in FX. Frances Chen also participated in FX. In LD, David Emelianov, Jason Darholt, Jessica Jiong, and Rishi Goel also participated.
In the Ronald Reagan tournament this past weekend, Westwood had a very strong showing in both policy debate and LD. In Varsity CX, Abe Raina and Austin Louden earned 2nd
place, Zofia Yellin and Kayleigh Ferguson conceded in the semifinals to
Abe and Austin, and Jacob Loehr and Alex Munox conceded in the
quarterfinals to Abe and Austin. Eric Cervini and Nikhil Kumar, Kapil Raghuraman and Anuj Kudva, and Ben Koons and Evan Hearn also participated. In addition, Dohun and Rohan, Shakira and Steven, Justin and Neethi, and Russell and Vamsi participated in novice CX.
In varsity LD, David Emelianov and Jackie Chen made it to quarterfinals. Jackie’s performance was especially noteworthy as this was the first time she competed in an LD event! Jessica Jiang, Austin Schank, Shantanu Banerjee, and Leslie Kim also participated. In addition, Urmilla Banerjee participated in novice LD.
Congratulations
to our debaters, Mr. Martin, and the assistant coaches (including our
debate seniors who acted as assistant coaches, Alexis Kostun and
Christina Qui)!
Westwood Debate fajita dinner and silent auction
Thank
you to supporters and parents for a successful fall fundraiser! On
October 10, 2009, the Booster Club hosted a Fajita Dinner and Silent
Auction at the Balcones Country Club to raise funds for our Speech and
Debate Program. The festive event was attended by approximately 80
individuals who dined and mingled with parents, friends, supporters and
our new coach Mr. Martin. Thanks to the efforts of numerous volunteers
and the generous donations of businesses, attendees were able to bid on
exciting auction items such professional sporting tickets and
memorabilia, fine wine, electronics and services. The outstanding items
resulted in a few good spirited bidding wars! In addition to the monies
raised through the silent auction, other supporters donated cash funds
directly to our program. We are proud to announce that this year’s Fall
Fundraiser Fiesta raised approximately $3,000 (after expenses) which
will be used to support your student’s success in Speech and Debate at
Westwood. A very big thank you to all who assisted with the event and
to those who attended.
Michelle M. Kostun
| President
Charles Qiu
VP Fund Raising Dianne Ferguson Indira Nallapati
VP Donations Shyla Kumar Michelle Kostun
VP Communications
Poonam Goel Rob Munoz
VP Information Technology
Satish Parolkar
VP Tournaments Robi Banerjee Rob Senders
VP Membership
Sudha Kudva
Parliamentarian
Fei Xu Hwang
Treasurer
Gwen Zhao Tracy Chen |
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Westwood Debate Continues Strong Performance
Our Westwood debate students continued their strong performance this month in the John Jay and Ronald Reagan tournaments. In the John Jay tournament Divya Ramamoorthy earned 2nd place in DX and Priyanka Deshpande and Rishi Goel made it to the semifinal found in FX. Frances Chen also participated in FX. In LD, David Emelianov, Jason Darholt, Jessica Jiong, and Rishi Goel also participated.
In the Ronald Reagan tournament this past weekend, Westwood had a very strong showing in both policy debate and LD. In Varsity CX, Abe Raina and Austin Louden earned 2nd
place, Zofia Yellin and Kayleigh Ferguson conceded in the semifinals to
Abe and Austin, and Jacob Loehr and Alex Munox conceded in the
quarterfinals to Abe and Austin. Eric Cervini and Nikhil Kumar, Kapil Raghuraman and Anuj Kudva, and Ben Koons and Evan Hearn also participated. In addition, Dohun and Rohan, Shakira and Steven, Justin and Neethi, and Russell and Vamsi participated in novice CX.
In varsity LD, David Emelianov and Jackie Chen made it to quarterfinals. Jackie’s performance was especially noteworthy as this was the first time she competed in an LD event! Jessica Jiang, Austin Schank, Shantanu Banerjee, and Leslie Kim also participated. In addition, Urmilla Banerjee participated in novice LD.
Congratulations
to our debaters, Mr. Martin, and the assistant coaches (including our
debate seniors who acted as assistant coaches, Alexis Kostun and
Christina Qui)! |
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Interview with new Westwood Debate Director |
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The communications team met Jeremy at our favorite debate portable armed with questions. As many parents of returning debaters know, we are fortunate to have recruited a new debate coach and Director of Forensics after Mr. Pritchard’s unexpected departure for a once in a lifetime career opportunity. Jeremy Martin comes to WWHS after having coached debate at Hays High School for the past 2 years where his team finished as one of the top 16 teams in the country at the Tournament of Champions. Prior to this he taught at the Dartmouth Debate Institute from 2003-2008. As a student, he competed in policy debate for 4 years at Hays High School and 2 years at Dartmouth College, where he graduated with a major in English and a minor in Education.
He is very glad to be the new Director of Forensics at Westwood. "This is a dream job for any debate coach", he says. Westwood is one of the best chools in the country and has outstanding students and supportive parents. Westwood not only enjoys a great reputation nationally but also intense loyalty from alumni. Martin said that a number of alumni have already contacted him and offered their help.
At Westwood, he is looking forward to spending high quality, intellectually stimulating time with his students. His last year at Hays he accompanied
students to 22 tournaments and cites coaching students in debate competition as his most rewarding experience as a teacher. For Martin, success in debate is not defined by winning or losing debate matches. Instead, success is about students achieving their full potential, a profoundly positive learning experience , and enjoyable socials interactions; Martin said he is absolutely committed to doing everything he can to help students achieve that success at Westwood. He expects his debate students to be curious and open-minded about arguments and perspectives others may bring to the table. Students are expected to give their full effort and to take full advantage of time in debate class (he pointed out that Westwood students are fortunate to have debate as a class since some schools only offer debate as an after school club). More seasoned students are expected to share their experience with novices. Students should feel safe and be comfortable sharing their ideas even when their peers may disagree with them.
He is looking forward to help from the parents and the booster club to help him learn more about the students, the school, and the Westwood culture. He hopes parents take an active interest in what their children are doing in debate and said that parent support can be an important component of a
student’s success in debate. He believes that the skills students develop will be helpful not only in their subsequent classes in high school and beyond but
also in life and work as a whole. Furthermore, he believes a demonstrated commitment to debate is an asset in college admissions, as colleges want to
enroll well rounded, committed individuals. Debate also provides opportunities for students to travel, make good friends, and get exposed to
different ideas in a very intellectually stimulating environment.
In his personal life, he recently bought a house in South Austin and is engaged to be married next summer after his fiancé completes her Masters in
Social Work at UT Austin. He has also been active in community service activities, having volunteered at the Summer Enrichment at Dartmouth
Program (SEAD) and with the Lebanon Housing Authority.
-Rob Munoz and Poonam Goel
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Westwood Debate Team Off to a Strong Start
This past weekend (9/4 and 9/5), 28 Westwood debate students participated in the L. C. Anderson Trojan Classic tournament. Mr. Martin and assistant coaches Mr. Hart, Mr. Murray, and Mr. Cook led the students during the tournament.
In policy debate, five Westwood teams placed in the top eight and advanced to the quarter finals round. Two of these five teams advanced to the semi finals round. Furthermore, two students placed third and fourth in overall speaker points. In extemporaneous speech, two Westwood speakers earned 4th place finishes. In Public Forum Debate, the sole team Westwood fielded (Daniel Li and Satya Kantipudi) placed 3rd and only missed advancing to the finals by a couple of speaker points.
Notable team performances in varsity policy debate included:
· Ashvin/Anuj: 4-0 in preliminary, advanced to quarter final
· Nishu/Rekha: 4-0 in preliminary, advanced to semi final
· Balam/Christina: 4-0 in preliminary, advanced to quarter final
· Varun/Jackie: 4-0 in preliminary, advanced to semi final
· Niki/Zofia: 3-1 in preliminary, advanced to quarter final (conceded to Varun and Jackie)
For extemporaneous speech:
· Mark Jbeily placed 4th in Domestic Extemp
· Rishi Goel placed 4th in Foreign Extemp.
Congratulations to our students and their coaches on their outstanding start to the year! |
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