It was so busy yesterday that I did not get a chance to update the blog.  
Here are the final standings for the folks I have not already listed:

Jasper Primack - 4th Place - U.S. Extemporaneous Speaking
Keith Henzer & Sachin Srivastava - 9th Place - Public Forum Debate

The Big News for the team is that we won an Outstanding Distinction Award. This award is given to the top 10 schools for combined entries in both speech & debate.  This is the very first time that Newton South has won this award. It is the most prestigious award that a team can win. We are very excited!

We are also very excited for our New England District team members!

Shrewsbury won a School of Excellence Award for Debate

Nic Gerard, from Shrewsbury, place 3rd in the House
Jeff Heithmar, from Natick, placed 4th in Expository Speaking
Abhi Gupta, from Shrewsbury, placed 6th in the Senate

Anbo Wei (Needham) was a semi-finalist in the Senate
Marshall Sloane (Milton Academy) was a Quarterfinalist in U.S. Extemp
Hari Kumar (Shrewsbury) was an Octafinalist in International Extemp
Vrinda Agarwal (Acton-Boxborough) went 9 rounds in Lincoln-Doublas Debate

We celebrated together at a District Dinner after awards.

Yasmin Yacoby made it to semi-finals in Storytelling 
Albert Lee made it through three rounds of impromptu

In addition to Jasper Primack advancing to finals in U.S. Extemp, the following member of the New England District advanced to finals:

  Jeff Heithmar (from Natick) is in Expository finals
  Abhi Gupta (from Shrewsbury) placed in the top 6 in Student Senate
  Nic Gerard (from Shrewsbury) placed in the top 6 in the House

This morning, competition continued.  Unfortunately, many of our competitors were eliminated from the tournament after their first round today.

  Keith & Sachin dropped from PFD after round 13 (top 12 teams!).  
  Josh Carney dropped from Extemp Commentary after round 6 (top 20 people!). 

Albert and Yasmin began competing in Impromptu and Storytelling this morning. 
They both got "Ups" in round one and are currently competing in round two.

Meanwhile, Jasper did his sound check for finals. That round takes place at 9:30 tomorrow (Friday) morning.

Stephanie, Sophie, Keith & Sachin have been judging at the middle school debate tournament and everyone else has been watching rounds.

JASPER BROKE TO FINALS in U.S. EXTEMP

Keith Henzer & Sachin Srivastava advanced to round 13 in PFD. That will be tomorrow morning.

Josh Carney & Albert Lee are both still in Extemp Commentary. They start round 4 very soon.
Yasmin Yacoby advanced to round 5 of Prose Reading. Her round starts in a few minutes, too.

A local FOX News affiliate covered the tournament and Josh Carney and Albert are featured (sort of). 
Watch here:
  http://fox4kc.com/2014/06/17/blue-valley-west-hosts-worlds-largest-academic-competition/

UPDATE:
  Zephy & Jae dropped after round 11 in PFD.
  Keith & Sachin are still in PFD. On to round 12 . . . 

  Albert Lee & Josh Carney have both advanced to round 3 in Extemp Commentary.
  Yasmin Yacoby advanced to round 4 in Prose.

Competition continues . . . 

Latest News:

Yasmin Yacoby - 2 ups in Prose. She is competing in round 3 right now.
Josh Carney - 1 up in Extemp Comm. He is competing in round 2 right now.
Albert Lee - 1 down in Extemp Comm.  He is competing in round 2 right now.

I joined the NSHS Speech & Debate Team at Blue Valley West High School this morning. All of our debaters were still in competition, Jasper was just starting prep for his second quarter round and everyone else was getting ready for their first supplemental rounds.  

Being in Kansas is different from being in Massachusetts.  Here are a few images we don't see in schools in the Boston area:

BREAKING NEWS:

Jasper is in semi-finals in U.S. Extemp.
Jae Seung Lee & Zephy Chang have advanced to round 11.
Keith Henzer & Sachin Srivastava have also advanced to 11.

All three NSHS PFD Teams are currently 2-0 in out-rounds. This is a double-elim tournament, so they have two more rounds (rounds 9 & 10) tomorrow morning before the next set of breaks.  There are currently about 68 PFD teams from around the country still in the competition.

In U.S. Extemp - Jasper Primack advanced to Quarter finals (top 30).

Everyone else will begin supplemental events tomorrow morning.

This evening, the group ate at a great Italian buffet restaurant with our friends from Needham. There was a fountain in front. 

Preliminary rounds finished up a few hours ago and here are the NSHS breaks. 

In U.S. Extemp - Jasper Primack (octos = top 60)
In Dramatic Interp - Mira Li (octos = top 60)
In Humorous Interp - Yasmin Yacoby (octos = top 60)
In Public Forum Debate - Keith Henzer & Sachin Srivastava (round 7)
In Public Forum Debate - Sophie Hill & Hattie Gawande (round 7)
In Public Forum Debate - Jae Seung Lee & Zephy Chang (round 7)

Greetings from Kansas City!  We will be blogging about the NSHS Speech & Debate team's experiences at the National Speech & Debate Association's (aka: NFL) National tournament.