Thoughts

The future of debate, and in particular in Minnesota, looks very promising. The progress of the students during camp was tremendous. With this being my first year as a lab leader at a camp, I was not sure what to expect. In the end, my experience teaching the students was very rewarding. Despite a grueling 8AM-11PM day, the students would come eager to learn everyday until the end. During lectures, they were very attentive and took great notes. They asked questions if they did not understand the concepts and participated in group assignments. During the research portion, it was hard to sit in a library for many hours straight, but the students finished all the work that was asked of them.

The most impressive part of the students’ work was in the time prior to the tournament. The effort that all the teams put in writing blocks and preparing to debate in their rounds was terrific.

I had a great first experience as a lab leader and hope to come back again next summer. Most of all, the parents and the coaches of the students should be proud of all the hard work. I look forward to seeing and judging the students at tournaments this year.

-Aneesh Sohoni

End of the 4th Week

The fourth week option with the fast track/extension week and the kritik week is over. This was the first year of the institute and all students felt it was successful. Both camps ended with a five round tournament. Second place at the Fast Track Institute was Kyle and Ben (Rosemount MN). First was Kristen (Fargo Shanley ND) and Jason (Stoneman FL).

The kritik institute ended with Joe (Moorhead MN) and Amy (Bloomington MN) at second and Rebecca (San Dieguito CA) and Michelle Stanley (Moorhead MN) in first.

More thoughts about camp after the staff recovers from sleep deprivation.

Students Opinion of Camp

Between 2006 and 2007 students opinion of CDI improved by .2 points. Students are asked a set of survey questions at the end of the first week and at the end of the third week. Students are asked to rate their experience on a 1 to 5 scale with 5 being the highest. When asked the question: "Overall, I am satisfied with my experience at the Concordia Debate Institute" the average student score was 4.78 - a .2 increase from 4.58 last year. In addition scores on fun, learning, lab leaders and other areas significantly increased. In fact the only category that received overall bad reviews was the question: "I would pay an extra $100 in room and board for air conditioned units." That had a reduction in responses. It probably had to deal with the better weather this year. More comments and stats to come at a later point.

4th Week: Busy Start, Decent Food

The fourth week option at the Concordia Debate Institute has started. On saturday the students watched a staff debate and received evidence. The fast track students had a practice round, drills, evidence distribution, topic specific Africa lecture and topic specific topicality lecture. Today they have attended sessions on micro and macro level refutation and topicality. They will finish their day with disads and another practice round. Kritik Institute students have had lectures on Post-Semiotics, Zizek (Revolution), Zizek (Lacan), Neo-Liberalism, and Borders. They have also had two practice debates. The food yesterday was great with subs then Chinese. The new Anderson Dining Room is open on Concordia's campus and the debate students were the first to test out the new facilities and the students loved the food! More to come tomorrow hopefully!

End of Camp

It is the end of camp. The three week students will be departing soon and the fourth week students arriving. The last day included a banquet for the students, a camp video and the highlight for some students - the kernel auction. After judging several rounds, debating 24 debates, getting 10 drills, listening to countless teaching sessions and doing several practicums most of the students are tired, but happy. The staff will certainly miss our students. Keep reading the blog for updates throughout the year on how the students are doing. You can also find out fourth week information, see more pictures from the three week camp and find out how to get digital copies of evidence.

Quarters, Semi, Finals

Quarters
David/Michael d. Dru/Tiffany, 3-0
Joe/Michelle d. Erik/Travis, 2-1 Sodeberg Sits
Annie/Hannah d. Nick/Tom, 2-1 Kernels Sit
Amy/Maddie d. Justin/Reka, 3-0

Semifinals
David Michael def. Amy Maddie 3-0
Joe Michelle def. Annie Hannah 3-0

Finals
Joe Michelle def. David Michael 2-1 (Kernels Sit)

JV Finals
Shruti and Sam def. Lillian and Kristyna 3-0

Speaker Awards

1. Travis Panneck (Eagan)
2. Erik Walker (Henry Sibley)
3. Joe Skaggs Jr. (Moorhead)
4. Tom Madsen (Blake)
5. Dru Svoboda (Wayzata)
6. Michelle Stanley (Moorhead)
7. Amy Anderson (Bloomington Jefferson)
8. Trevor Aufderheide (Edina)
9. David Kang (Blake)
10. Shruti Satish (Wayzata)

Clearing Teams

The following teams clear to quarters. Two teams in JV Finals.
These teams clear:
OlinMS AM
OlinMS DM
OlinMS KL (JV Finals)

IversFS DT
IversFS ET
IversFS SS (JV Finals)

OlinCJK AH
OlinCJK NT

IversHMM JR
IversHMM JM