Awards

The HDSHC ASU Forensics Team Places 6th in National Competition

The ASU Forensics Team earned 6th place at the National Forensics Association Championships Tournament held in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 18-21.

With over 500 students and 88 schools from around the country competing, the HDSHC team received the following placements:

Andrew Kersh (Communication Freshman): Quarterfinalist (16th place) in Dramatic Interpretation.
Eric Dern (Film Studies Freshman): Quarterfinalist (14th place) in After Dinner Speaking.
Sara Cho (Fine Arts Senior): Quarterfinalist (13th place) in Rhetorical Criticism.
Jose Magana (Communication/ Business Senior): 3rd Place in Informative Speaking, Semifinalist in Communication Analysis, Semifinalist in Poetry Interpretation, Semifinalist in Extemporaneous Speaking, and 8th place in Individual Sweepstakes.
Andy Stone (Communication Sophomore): National Runner-up (2nd place) in After Dinner Speaking.
Julia Kolsrud (Political Science Senior): National Runner-up (2nd place) in Dramatic Interpretation, Semifinalist in Prose Interpretation.

Also representing the team through preliminary sweepstakes points: Journalism Senior Justin Adams, Communication Junior Laura Kennedy, Journalism Sophomore Carly McElroy, Philosophy Sophomore Kristie Rohwedder, German Freshman Zach Mills, Architecture Freshman Thomas Ochoa, Physics Freshman Matt Gibson, and Political Science Freshman Jon McGinn.

Each of these students should be commended for their hard work and determination. They have represented ASU and the HDSHC well. Please join me in congratulating them on this incredibly successful building year for the team! Thank you all for your support!

ASU Forensics Team Victorious at UC-Berkeley!

Congratulations to Coach Michael Graupmann and the members and assistant coaches of the ASU Forensics Team for their stunning victory, capturing the Overall Team Sweepstakes trophy at UC-Berkley on October 21-23. The team won 42 individual awards in 21 competition categories. Listed below are the first place winners:

Julia Kolsrud, Program oral Interpretation (1st and 2nd days of the competition)
Eric Dern, After Dinenr Speaking
Jose Magana, Persuasion
Harrison Lai, Impromptu

ASU Forensics Team has a banner year in 2006-07!

The Hugh Downs School ASU Forensics Team placed 3rd out of 87 teams at the 2007 Nationals Forensics Association National Championships! The Team previously earned 5th place at the 2007 American Forensics Association Nationals, ranking the team 5th in the nation over 173 other competing schools. For more information on the championship results, click on the appropriate link:

NFA Nationals

AFA Nationals

The 2007 Forensics qualifying season is over, and the ASU Forensics team had its most successful year to date. Heading in to the 2007 Nationals season, the team is in a better position than ever before to bring a National Championship to ASU!

Highlights of our qualifying season include:

The speech team qualified 15 students to the AFA Nationals, and 18 students to the NFA National Tournament—6 more students to both tournaments than last year.

The speech team qualified 78 events to AFA (26 more than last year) and 94 to NFA (43 more than last year!)
The ASU High School Tournament was larger than ever with 82 high schools and approximately 1,500 high school competitors and coaches attending during Winter Break.

Senior Ashley Mack was chosen by AFA District IX to join the 2007 AFA All-American Team—the highest honor given to students based on forensics success, community service, and academic achievement.

Our 2006 Winter Forensics Showcase sold out of seats and allowed our students to show their talent to friends, family members, and Hugh Downs Communication students, who gave rave reviews.

The ASU College Tournament drew an eclectic group of schools together for a fantastic weekend of fun and competition in the February Phoenix sun. Schools from Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee, Washington, and Texas helped to make it the largest and most competitive tournament it has been in a long while.

Our debate team is growing and gaining national recognition. Freshmen debaters Melissa Tse and Caleb Jewett placed in Double-Octofinals at the JV Novice Policy Debate Nationals held in Morgantown, WV.

At the 2006 Bradley University Norton Memorial Tournament, senior Ashley Mack won Top Varsity Individual Sweepstakes and freshman Carly McElroy won Top Novice Individual Sweepstakes—a record for a single school.

Graduate Coaching Assistant Desiree Rowe was chosen by the AFA National Committee to receive the 2007 Outstanding New Young Coach Award.

Nationals Tournaments

2007 AFA Nationals 2007 NFA Nationals 2007 Fall Awards

2006 2007 Spring Awards

2000 - 2001 2006 Fall Awards

1999 - 2000 2006 Spring Awards