New York State Debate Coaches Association

Sheryl Kaczmarek Elected to NYSDCA Hall of Fame

Jon Cruz — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:35:14 +0000

NYSDCA—Sheryl Kaczmarek, director of debate at Newburgh Free Academy, has been inducted into the New York State Debate Coaches Association Hall of Fame. She was elected unanimously by the general membership and will receive a handsome plaque in honor of this achievement at a formal ceremony at State on March 31.

Register for State Today!

Jon Cruz — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 11:35:24 +0000

NYSDCA—Registration for the 2012 NYSDCA State Tournament is available on Tabroom.com.

The Journal News Features Chetan Hertzig, Harrison High School Debate Team

Jon Cruz — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 18:23:00 +0000

HARRISON—The Journal News, which serves the Lower Hudson Valley, published a profile piece on innovative teachers in several area schools.

Among those profiled is the director of debate at Harrison High School, Chetan Hertzig, who was featured for “quickly [putting] together a championship debate team, reviving an old-school approach to engaging distracted teens.” Hertzig’s young team has won many titles in its short history, including last season’s NYSDCA Novice State Championship and Harvard J.V. Championship in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. The previous season, Harrison was honored as the Metro-Hudson League Program of the Year.

The complete article is available here.

Elections Underway for 3 Executive Board Positions

Jon Cruz — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 18:04:59 +0000

NYSDCA—Five member coaches have been nominated to the NYSDCA Executive Board. Each head coach of a member school may vote for up to three individuals. The three candidates with the highest vote totals will serve a two-year term.

The nominated coaches are Stefan Bauschard (Lakeland), Abdul Beretay (Byram Hills), Aracelis Biel (Collegiate), Sheryl Kaczmarek (Newburgh Free), and Adam Stevens (Brooklyn Tech).

Voting will close at 9 PM on Sunday, September 3, 2011. Members may cast their ballot electronically by emailing it to Jon Cruz, President of the NYSDCA.

The four current Board members who have served one half of a two-year term are Jon Cruz (Bronx Science), Erik Fogel (Bronx Law), Jim Menick (Hendrick Hudson), and Joe Vaughan (Scarsdale).

Results from State

Jon Cruz — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 14:34:58 +0000

NYSDCA—The New York State Debate Coaches Association congratulates the 2011 New York State Champions and all those who won awards and qualified to compete at the State Championship Tournament.

This year’s tournament was held at Brooklyn Technical High School. Full results are available online at Tabroom.com.

The Bronx High School of Science was the overall school champion in high school debate. Placing second was Scarsdale High School. Placing third was the Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice. Edgemont High School was the winner of the Small School Championship; the Institute for Collaborative Education was the overall middle school champion.

Jim Menick, director of debate at Hendrick Hudson High School, was inducted into the New York State Debate Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Harry Feder, director of debate at the Beacon School, won the Michael Bacon Service Award.

The tournament featured full competition in Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Policy Debate, and Public Forum Debate, as well as a one-day event in Congressional Debate.

Berkeley Carroll School’s Dylan Scher is the New York State Champion in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. He defeated Hunter College High School’s Diana Li on a 2-1 decision in the final round. (Diana won the division’s top speaker award.) The semifinalists were Geoffrey Kristof of Scarsdale High School and Zack Struver of Hendrick Hudson High School.

Byram Hills High School’s Josh Altman was the State Champion in the junior varsity Lincoln-Douglas Debate division; Scarsdale’s Sam Natbony was runner-up. Bronx Science’s Albert Han placed third.

Harrison High School’s Sarah Rossman was the State Champion in novice Lincoln-Douglas Debate, having defeated the Bronx High School of Science’s Zeke Rosenberg on a 2-1 decision. Scarsdale’s Charlie Blatt and Noah Thaler were semifinalists. Sarah was also the winner of the top speaker award.

Two teams from Edgemont High School “closed out” the final round of Policy Debate and were declared co-champions. The team of Nikhil Jayawickrama and Akshay Kini and the team of Isaac Marshall and Helen Xu thus share the state title. The semifinalists were the Bronx High School of Science’s Daniel Fabrizio and Joyce Tang and the Beacon School’s Eleanor Buse and Evelyn Buse. Nikhil won the top speaker award.

In junior varsity Policy Debate, Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice’s Geordano Liriano and Betty Mahmud were State Champions; Lakeland High School’s Mihir Pradkar and Priten Shah were runners-up. Beacon’s Carol Cuello and Isabel Reade and Edgemont’s Tientso Ning and Tasha Jhangiani were semifinalists. Tientso was also top speaker.

The final debates for Novice Policy Debate and Middle School Policy Debate will take place shortly. The final round of Novice Policy Debate will feature debaters Dale Li and Lucy Shen from the Bronx High School of Science and debaters Aassta Gandi and Allen Xu from Edgemont High School; the final round of Middle School Policy Debate will feature the team of Petergaye Laine and Stephanie Nyame from the Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice, and the team of Emily Conley and Charlotte Ehrhardt from the Institute for Collaborative Education. Allen was top speaker in novice Policy Debate; Petergaye was top speaker in Middle School Debate.

In Public Forum Debate, the Bronx High School of Science’s Dasha Fayvinova and Jeremy Perlman were the State Champions, while teammates Thomas Lloyd and Katie Wong placed second. Jeremy won the top speaker award. In the junior varsity division, Bronx Science also took the top two awards. The team of Towsif Ahasan and Jeremy Andreades were State Champions; the team of Daniel Messner and Liam Moore placed second. Horace Mann School’s Alex Posner was top speaker.

Berkeley Carroll School’s August Rosenthal won Congressional Debate; Bronx Science’s Sam Turer placed second.

Jim Menick Elected to NYSDCA Hall of Fame

Jon Cruz — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 23:00:06 +0000

NYSDCA—Jim Menick, director of debate at Hendrick Hudson High School, has been inducted into the New York State Debate Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He was elected by the general membership.

The text of NYSDCA President Jon Cruz’s speech celebrating the induction is available here.

Induction into the Hall of Fame is the highest honor this organization can bestow upon its members. Only one coach can be elected by the membership each year. The votes were cast in January. All of the nominees are, by any measure, incredibly deserving. But the membership has spoken, and it is my honor as President of the New York State Debate Coaches Association to recognize this year’s Hall of Fame inductee.

Jim Menick volunteers his time to coach the Hendrick Hudson debate program. Many years after a brief stint as a high school debater, Jim returned to the activity as a parent judge, and eventually took the helm of the Hendrick Hudson team when they needed a new director.

Jim is a tremendous supporter of our activity at the grassroots. He is a champion of local circuit debate. In addition to coaching his own team, he is the primary director of the Metro-Hudson League, an organization that provides low-cost debate opportunities to younger competitors from across our state and beyond.

Jim makes resources available electronically to coaches and students. These resources have benefited less experienced coaches not simply from New York, but, as the comments on his widely-read blog will attest, from across the country as well.

Jim has also distinguished himself as a coach at every level of debate. Hendrick Hudson’s run at major regional and national events from the late Nineties into the Aughts is an impressive example of team depth and squad strength, as is his program’s performance this season. He has coached back-to-back Greenhill Round Robin champions, multiple winners of the Lexington Winter Invitational, champions of the Glenbrooks and Harvard, finalists at St. Mark’s and Princeton, top speakers at Bronx Science and the TOC. He coached his own daughter to tremendous success across the East Coast. His students closed out the Newark City Invitational in the semifinal round. (And that was Hendrick Hudson’s third straight year winning the tournament.)

This year, Jim has again reminded us what a small team with good leadership can accomplish: one of his debaters has gone deep at major national tournaments on a consistent basis (including winning another Lexington title for the team), another one of his debaters won a major regional event (the Kaiser), and his novices have claimed top honors at local tournaments.

Jim’s debaters are humble, give back to the community, and participate in local competition even when they distinguish themselves on the national level. They do this because of the example set by their exceptionally gifted and caring coach.

In recognition of his excellence as a coach of competitive debate in the State of New York, Jim Menick is hereby inducted into the New York State Debate Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Harry Feder Presented with Michael Bacon Service Award

Jon Cruz — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 20:00:40 +0000

NYSDCA—Harry Feder, director of debate at the Beacon School, was presented with the Michael Bacon Service Award at the opening assembly of the 2011 State Championship Tournament.

The award recognizes outstanding service to the New York State Debate Coaches Association by an individual who is not a member of the Executive Board.

The late Michael Bacon was a long-serving debate coach at Newburgh Free Academy who had a tremendous impact on not only his own students, but on the students and coaches from programs across New York. Before this organization existed, Michael Bacon lobbied for the creation of just such an organization. He provided tremendous service to the local debate community, and the NYSDCA remembers his example through this award.

NYSDCA Hall of Fame Unveiled

Jon Cruz — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 18:02:51 +0000

NYSDCA—The New York State Debate Coaches Association Hall of Fame has been unveiled.

Membership in the NYSDCA Coaches Hall of Fame shall be open to coaches affiliated with NYSDCA member schools or presently inactive programs. The initial class of inductees was determined by the vote of the Board of Directors and shall be either retired from coaching or deceased. Beginning with the 2011 NYSDCA State Tournament, a maximum of one additional coach per year may be inducted (two in the case of a tie) into the Hall of Fame.

Annual inductees may be active or retired coaches.

In January, a call will be sent to the general NYSDCA membership accepting nominations for potential inductees; the vote for the actual inductee will be conducted by secret ballot and be open to the entire membership. Individuals must have coached for a minimum of ten years in New York State in order to be eligible for future induction into the Hall of Fame.

Ted W. Belch| Walter Panas High School

Lee Bradshaw| Monticello High School

Malcolm A. Bump| Hendrick Hudson High School

Robert Carlson| Jamestown High School

Kirby Chin| The Bronx High School of Science

Alexandra Glankoff| Freedom Academy

David Glass| Edgemont High School

Bill Lawlor| Archbishop Stepinac H.S. & Hendrick Hudson H.S.

Albert Odom| National Forensic League

Harry Robie| Southwestern Central High School

Sally Schecter| Hendrick Hudson High School

Richard B. Sodikow| The Bronx High School of Science

Barry Talkington| Liberty High School

Greg Varley| Lakeland High School

William Vogel| Lakeland High School

Barbara Weiss| Newburgh Free Academy

Hunter College Wins Princeton Classic

Jon Cruz — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 17:58:03 +0000

PRINCETON, New Jersey—The championship in Lincoln-Douglas Debate at the twentieth annual installment of the Princeton Classic, an all-events forensics tournament hosted by Princeton University, was won by Hunter College High School’s Diana Li. Hunter College is an NYSDCA member school.

Diana is coached by Noel Selegzi.

The top speaker was Sophie Ruff of Hendrick Hudson High School. Sophie is coached by Jim Menick.

Complete results can be found on Tabroom.com.

NYDSCA Members Excel at Bump

Jon Cruz — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 15:45:54 +0000

MONTROSE—The forty-fifth annual installment of Hendrick Hudson High School’s Malcolm A. Bump Memorial Tournament — named in honor of one New York’s most legendary coaches and an inaugural member of the NYSDCA Hall of Fame — was again a memorable weekend for all involved.

Both finalists in the novice Lincoln-Douglas Debate (pictured here) were from NYSDCA member schools. Harrison High School’s Danny DeBois is this year’s champion, while Hunter College High School’s Danny Li is this year’s runner-up. Danny (DeBois) is coached by Chetan Hertzig; Danny (Li) is coached by Noel Selegzi.

By tradition, Bump does not feature a final round in Lincoln-Douglas Debate, so the two finalists are declared champions in their own right. Hunter College High School’s Diana Li was one of this year’s champions. (A debater from New Jersey took the other title.)

The top speaker, and the recipient of the coveted Traveling Fruit Cup, was Alon Daks of Scarsdale High School. Alon is coached by Joe Vaughan and Patrick Diehl.

The Bronx High School of Science’s Thomas Lloyd and Katie Wong were the champions of the tournament in Public Forum Debate on a 3-2 decision. (This was their second victory in as many weekends of competition, having also won the Manchester Round Robin in Massachusetts.) They are coached by Jon Cruz, Joseph Gazzola, and Lev Raslin.

Complete results can be found on Tabroom.com.