Results from the FINALS Tournament – 3/5/2011

Congratulations to all our Forensics FINALS participants!  The team did incredibly well and we continue to climb up closer to the “elite” schools who have ruled the Southwestern PA Forensics League for decades.

A couple notes before the results:  we will  not be having Forensics practice this week – Thursday, 3/10 – but instead will  have our final meeting of the year next Thursday, 3/17.  At that final meeting we will make plans for next year, have a little party, and just celebrate the year.  We hope all the students can be there.  Prior to that party, Mrs Michalenko and I will  be presenting to the 4th grade class, encouraging the next class of students to join our team.  If you know any 4th graders (or 5th through 7th graders, for that matter) who you think would be a good fit for our team, please let us know and please encourage them.

If your student has a particular category they would like to be in next year, please let us know ASAP; Mrs Michalenko and I will be making initial  assignments in the next week.

FINALS results from last Saturday:

Joseph Auth – 2nd Place

Marin Auth – 2nd Place

Alexander Michalenko – 3rd Place

Colin Hill – 2nd Place

Carlyle MacDonald – 2nd Place

Charlie Veeck – 1st Place

Robby Monks – 2nd Place

Elizabeth Michalenko – 2nd Place

Heidi Langhorst – 1st Place

Emma Cullo, Ryan McNelis, Dylan Osheka, Rochelle Porter, and Victoria Michalenko – Multiple Reading Team – 2nd Place

Congratulations to the  entire FINALS team – great job!

God Bless –

Mrs Michalenko and Mr Veeck

SJS Forensics: FINALS – Saturday, 3/5/2011 and ALL-STARS – Saturday, 3/12/2011 – Butler Catholic

Dear Parents – 

Next weekend is FINALS (3/5) and the following weekend is ALL-STARS (3/12) at Butler Catholic High School in Butler, PA (directions).  The tournaments start at 9:00am, so we will be meeting as usual in the SJS parking lot at 8:00am to carpool and caravan.

Here are the students who are participating in FINALS (3/5/2011)…

JOSEPH AUTH

MARIN AUTH

ALEXANDER MICHALENKO

COLIN HILL

CARLYLE MACDONALD

CHARLIE VEECK

ROBBY MONKS

ELIZABETH MICHALENKO

HEIDI LANGHORST

EMMA CULLO

RYAN MCNELIS

DYLAN OSHEKA

CATIE CONRY

ROCHELLE PORTER

… and in ALL-STARS (3/12/2011):

HANNAH FELDHUES

VIVIAN CIRILANO

COLIN HILL

CHARLIE VEECK

ELIZABETH MICHALENKO

EMMA CULLO

RYAN MCNELIS

DYLAN OSHEKA

CATIE CONRY

ROCHELLE PORTER

We have prioritized participation in FINALS by seniority and ALL-STARS by how students scored in previous tournaments (participation and seniority as the tie-breakers when needed).

Please let me know ASAP if you have any issues with your student participating.  We have a smaller number of students we are allowed to commit to these tournaments, so each and every slot is important.

Thanks!

Mr Veeck and Mrs Michalenko

 

Great Job at the Third Tournament, SJS!

Our SJS Forensics team did a great job this weekend at their tournament at Assumption in Bellevue.  We were only TWO POINTS away from placing in the Top Five Schools at a very large and competitive tournament. Congratulations to all who participated!

A special thanks goes out to HEINZ LANGHORST for his always-reliable participation as a judge, and for all the parents who helped carpool.

Here are the results across two rounds:

HANNAH FELDHUES – 1st Place, 1st Place

VICTORIA MICHALENKO – 2nd Place, 3rd Place

VIVIAN CIRILANO – 1st Place, 2nd Place

MARIN AUTH – 2nd Place, 1st Place

JOSEPH AUTH – 2nd Place, 3rd Place

CLOTILDE CIRILANO – 2nd Place, 2nd Place

ALEXANDER MICHALENKO – 3rd Place, 3rd Place

COLIN HILL – 1st Place, 2nd Place

CARLYLE MACDONALD – 2nd Place, 1st Place

CHARLIE VEECK – 1st Place, 1st Place

ROBBY MONKS – 1st Place, 1st Place

ELIZABETH MICHALENKO – 2nd Place, 3rd Place

HEIDI LANGHORST – 3rd Place, 1st Place

EMMA CULLO, RYAN MCNELIS, DYLAN OSHEKA, CATIE CONRY, ROCHELLE PORTER – 2nd Place, 2nd Place

Thank you!  God Bless –

Mr Veeck and Mrs Michalenko

Third Tournament – Assumption, Bellevue

Dear Parents,

Our third (and final) regular season tournament is this Saturday, February 12th at Assumption School in Bellevue.  Direction to the school can be found by clicking here. As a reminder, you can also find this “Frequently Asked Questions” post that should answer most of the questions you have about the tournament format. If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to ask – you can email us at sjsforensics@gmail.com.

As usual, for anyone interested, we will be meeting in the St James School parking lot at 8:00am sharp to arrange for carpooling or caravaning. If you are taking part in the caravan or carpool, PLEASE BE ON TIME.

The tournament should be over no later than 12:30 – 1:00pm, and we will get everyone back to the St James School parking lot.

Here is the lineup of our students who will be competing in this tournament:

HANNAH FELDHUES

VICTORIA MICHALENKO

VIVIAN CIRILANO

MARIN AUTH

JOSEPH AUTH

CLOTILDE CIRILANO

ALEXANDER MICHALENKO

COLIN HILL

CARLYLE MACDONALD

CHARLIE VEECK

ROBBY MONKS

ELIZABETH MICHALENKO

LUKE TRAVIS

HEIDI LANGHORST

EMMA CULLO

RYAN MCNELIS

DYLAN OSHEKA

CATIE CONRY

ROCHELLE PORTER

Thank you!  God Bless –

Mr Veeck and Mrs Michalenko

 

 

Directions to Assumption School – Bellevue

Directions to Assumption School in Bellevue:

Distance: 7.86 miles Time: 17 mins

* Start at 201 BROAD ST, SEWICKLEY going toward BANK ST – go 0.1 mi

* Turn Left on OHIO RIVER BLVD(PA-65) – go 6.4 mi

* Turn Left on HARRISON AVE – go 0.2 mi

* Bear Left on S OHIO ST

* Turn Right on CALIFORNIA AVE – go 0.3 mi

* Turn Left on N CHESTNUT ST – go 0.1 mi

* Turn Right on MALVERN RD – go 0.2 mi

* Turn Left on N HOME AVE

* Continue on UNION AVE – go 0.1 mi

* Turn Right on ORCHARD AVE – go 0.2 mi

* Turn Right on N JACKSON AVE – go 0.2 mi

* Arrive at 35 N JACKSON AVE, BELLEVUE, on the Right

Assumption School; Phone: (412) 761-7887

Congrats St James!

Our SJS Forensics team did a great job last Saturday at their tournament at St Maurice.  Congratulations to all who participated!

Here are the results across two rounds:

Marin Auth (Prose) – 2nd Place, 2nd Place

Joseph Auth (Prose) – no place, 3rd Place

Alexander Michalenko (Declamation) – 3rd Place, 3rd Place

Colin Hill (Declamation) – 1st Place, 1st Place

Anthony Guy (Declamation) – 2nd Place, 2nd Place

Carlyle MacDonald (Drama) – 3rd Place, 2nd Place

Charlie Veeck (Drama) – 1st Place, 1st Place

Robby Monks (Drama) – 1st Place, no place

Elizabeth Michalenko (Impromptu) – 2nd Place, 2nd Place

Luke Travis (Impromptu) – 2nd Place, 3rd Place

Heidi Langhorst (Impromptu) – 2nd Place, 1st Place

Emma Cullo, Ryan McNelis, Dylan Osheka, Catie Conry, Rochelle Porter (Multiple Reading) – 2nd Place, 3rd Place

Thanks to everyone for your dedication!  See you soon –

Mr Veeck & Mrs Michalenko

Second Tournament 2010-11: St Maurice, Forest Hills, 1/15/2011

Dear Parents,

We are four days deep  into SJS Forensics Week, and the results have been fantastic!  Mrs Michalenko and I have really enjoyed spending some more in-depth time working with your kids, and I really think we have been able to fine-tune many of the performances.  Thanks for your participation!

Our second tournament of the 2010-2011 season will be next Saturday at St Maurice in Forest Hills – direction to the school can be found in by clicking here.  As a reminder, you can also find this “Frequently Asked Questions” post from last year that should answer most of the questions you have about the tournament format.  If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to ask – you can email  us at sjsforensics@gmail.com.

As usual, for anyone interested, we will be meeting in the St James School parking lot at 7:45am sharp to arrange for carpooling or caravaning.  If you are taking part in the caravan or carpool, PLEASE BE ON TIME.

The tournament should be over no later than 12:30 – 1:00pm, and we will get everyone back to  the St James School parking lot.

Here is the lineup of our students who will be competing in this first tournament:

Poetry:  ALEC LANDER (backups Hannah Feldhues and Molly DeFilippo)

Prose: JOSEPH AUTH, MARIN AUTH, CAMARA BEY (backups Vivian Cirilano and Clotilde Cirilano)

Declamation:  ALEXANDER MICHALENKO, COLIN HILL, ANTHONY GUY

Drama:  CARLYLE MACDONALD, ROBBY MONKS, CHARLIE VEECK

Impromptu:  ELIZABETH MICHALENKO, LUKE TRAVIS, HEIDI LANGHORST

Multiple Reading:  EMMA CULLO, RYAN MCNELIS, DYLAN OSHEKA, CATIE CONRY, ROCHELLE PORTER (backup Victoria Michalenko)

If it looks like you won’t be able to make it, PLEASE LET US KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! And please, PLEASE remember to have your student dress nicely and remember their reading.

Thanks – God Bless,

Mr Veeck and Mrs Michalenko

FORENSICS WEEK – January 3-7, 2011

Dear Parents/Students:

We are going to try something new this year to make sure that we have enough time to prepare each and every student with their forensics reading.

Rather than having our regular Thursday practice on the first Thursday of the new year, we will use that whole first week to spend a couple hours each day with each category of readings.  Here is the schedule; practices will run from 2:30 – 5:00pm at St James each of these days:

MONDAY (1/3) – PROSE – Joseph Auth, Marin Auth, Vivian Cirilano, Camara Bey

TUESDAY (1/4) – POETRY – Alec Lander, Patience Smith, Molly DeFilippo, Hannah Feldhues, Mia Cuccaro

WEDNESDAY (1/5) – DECLAMATION – Alexander Michalenko, Colin Hill, Anthony Guy

THURSDAY (1/6) – DRAMA & MULTIPLE READING – Carlyle MacDonald, Robby Monks, Charlie Veeck & Micarah Young, Emma Cullo, Ryan McNelis, Dylan Osheka, Catie Conry, Rochelle Porter, Victoria Michalenko

FRIDAY (1/7) – IMPROMPTU – Elizabeth Michalenko, Luke Travis, Heidi Langhorst

If you have any questions, please let us know.  We are excited to get to spend some extended time with these students and really work their readings hard.

Thank you!  God Bless,

Mr Veeck & Mrs Michalenko

First Tournament Results

Dear Parents,

Sorry this email is so long in coming – here are the results from our first Forensics Tournament held on Saturday, November 20th, at St Mary in Glenshaw.  Our team did a good job!

The results indicate student place across each of two rounds.

Alec Lander (Poetry) – 2nd place, 2nd place

Hannah Feldhues (Poetry) – 1st place, 1st place

Molly DeFilippo (Poetry) – 3rd place

Vivian Cirilano (Prose) – 2nd place, 1st place

Alexander Michalenko (Declamation) – 3rd place

Colin Hill (Declamation) – 1st place, 2nd place

Anthony Guy (Declamation) – 2nd place, 2nd place

Carlyle MacDonald (Drama) – 3rd place, 1st place

Charlie Veeck (Drama) – 1st place, 1st place

Elizabeth Michalenko (Impromptu) – 2nd place, 2nd place

Emma Cullo, Ryan McNelis, Dylan Osheka, Rochelle Porter, Victoria Michalenko (Multiple Reading) – 2nd place, 2nd place

Congratulations to everyone!  And many thanks to the parents who helped to drive, judge, and support our team!

Our next tournament will be held on Saturday, January 15th, at St Maurice in Forest Hills.  Please let us know ASAP if you don’t think your student will be able to make it.

Also, please stay tuned for details in a future email/post about FORENSICS WEEK, scheduled for the first week of January 2011.

Thanks – God Bless,

Mr Veeck and Mrs Michalenko

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does every student compete at each tournament?

A: Every student whom we take to a tournament will get to compete – the rules set up by the league seem to be changing year-to-year, which means our team, at some meets, may need to scale back the number of participants; we will be sure to let you know in advance if we don’t think your student will be able to compete at any given meet.

Q: Since the weekly team practices are so brief, is each student getting to practice their entire speech?

A: This is a tough one. The first meet really does come up quickly, so we are never as comfortable as we would like to be with the one-on-one time we have been able to give. That being said, we attempt to work with each student at least once or twice before the competition.THE MORE YOU CAN HELP YOUR STUDENT PREPARE BEFORE A TOURNAMENT, THE BETTER OFF WE WILL BE!The main points to help with are:

1) The introduction should be a compelling introduction of the work and its creator, and it should last less than 60 seconds.

2) Total time, including introduction, for the entire presentation should be between 5-8 minutes.

3) Please focus on slow, clearly enunciated speech; eye contact; projection; and posture (I have included a judging score sheet so that you can see all of the things the judges will be monitoring for your individual category).

4) The presentation should be on typed, numbered pages with large font , so they are clear, and should be stapled individually to royal blue construction paper (we have provided paper during our meetings; we have plenty, and can provide more as needed).

Q: Do parents have to attend the entire meet from 8:30am – 1pm?

A: No. There is a lot of down-time during those 4 hours, so we strongly encourage you to either drop your student off or have them carpool to the meet with another student. Nobody is allowed into the performance rooms except judges and a small group of participating students, so parents will not be able to watch their children perform. The ending time for the meet is usually “soft”; as many as 2 judged performances may occur from 9am to noon, with the awards ceremony occurring last, sometime around or just after noon. Some meets may end as early as noon, while others may go a bit past 1:00pm.

Q: Do the students take breaks for a snack?

A: Yes. Our school will sit as a team at a table in the cafeteria of the host school, and they can bring lunch, snacks, or any food they would like; there will also be a concession stand selling food at reasonable prices. There never seems to be a shortage of food.

Q: Can parents volunteer as judges?

A: YES! St James needs to provide judges in proportion to the number of students we take to each competition; we have a rather large team, so any and all help we get will be greatly appreciated!

This is really meant to be a fun learning experience, so please don’t stress out – the kids will have a great time, we promise, and they will learn a lot by the end of the year!