We're going "fishing"!

Its time for our annual 'fishing' expedition!  English honors teachers Mr. Clark and Ms. Duncan have once again generously offered to let the debate team come by to try and recruit a few rising freshmen.  Any 8th graders with questions about the team should feel free to post them as a reply to this blog or email the coach at: knixbuckner@misd.org.  One of our current squad members will be happy to answer any questions you might have!

We love Montgomery!

A big THANK YOU!! to the generous donations from our community!  Our winter Bake Sale at Wal-Mart was a huge success!  The donations help subsidize our competition costs and to provide valuable scholarships to our team-mates.  Thanks Montgomery and Thanks Wal-Mart!!

Sophomore Success

Our Amazing Sophomores Cortez and Jessica qualified for TFA State in CX debate! Woohoo! Congrats to both Jessica and Cortez with their first qual!  Additionally, two of our freshmen CXers are attempting to make MHS history.  With only two more points needed after their advance to the final round of debate at the Cy Creek invitational, Nick and Zach are working hard to be the first Montgomery freshmen to qualify for TFA State in CX.

State Qualified!

Montgomery wins big at the Klein HS Invitational this weekend!  Robert Whitaker, Madison Gates, Jack Murray, and Steven Kayo all qualified for TFA State in CX Debate.  Placing third at Kline in CX, were Whitaker and Gates, after their salutory win at Lamar last weekend.  Kayo and Murray placed second in the final round of CX, gaining enough points to send them to State.

The individual events competition was fierce at Klein, but Montgomery had a great showing!  Freshman Emma Hook took Second Place in Programmed Oral Interpretation; this was Emma's first time doing forensic acting!  Additionally, freshman Zachary Soules had his best showing in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking, placing Seventh in finals.  Last but not least, junior Robert Whitaker continued his run of success by placing third in the International division of Extemporaneous Speaking.  Robert's insightful analysis of the European debt crisis was key to  his victory this weekend.

Congratulations, Bears!!

We won! Yay!!!

Robert & Madison placed first in CX debate and Jessica & Cortez tied for third in CX debate at the Lamar Consolidated Invitational.

Additionally, Robert was named the second place overall speaker and Cortez was named third in CX debate.

10/8/11 - Second Update

Steven and Jack have broken to semi-finals

Austin Chandler is performing in finals right now

Our current ETA back at MHS is now 10:00 - 10:30 pm.

First Saturday Update

(a bit on the tardy side:)

Break List:

• Abby Orr
• Advanced to semi-finals in poetry at her first tournament!
• Austin Chandler
• His first time in DI finals!
• Robert Whitaker (in a temporary return to his first love, LD) 
• Advances to double-octos
• The sophomore duo of Jessica & Cortez 
• Once again, advance to quarter-finals in CX
•  Junior champions, Jack & Steven
• Advanced to quarter-finals in CX

Quarters and double-octos are ongoing as of this moment.

Jessica and Steven's ascent was temporarily halted in semi-finals.  To be continued at the next tournament.

Right now, 8:00 pm looks to be the earliest we will be home.  I will give an update on our projected arrival time after the next round of breaks. (results)

Coach Nix-B.

Friday Updates

It's 8:50 pm and the last round of the evening should be starting at 9:00, which is about 30 minutes later than we had expected.

We should be leaving to return to Montgomery at about 11:15 pm.  We are close to 529 & Barker Cypress and we should be home around 12:30-ish.  We will call when we pass Magnolia High School.

Call Krista Nix-Buckner's cell phone if you have any questions.

Beta testing tournament updates

Saturday, October 8th, I will be posting travel updates and a list of our advancing students on this blog.  I will attempt to update at noon and four pm on Saturday.  Please feel free to post feedback about whether or not you like the updates.  If there isn't any parent interest, I won't be updating after this weekend.

-Coach NB

Progress Update!

This year has gotten off to a great start! We have had a huge amount of Freshman join and they are making great progress. Our returning members have also make a great deal of progress in the last year and we are glad to welcome them all back! The team is stronger than ever and we continue to grow and form even stronger bonds as teammates and friends.

Good luck to everyone this year and let's make Montgomery proud!

Kick butt at the tournament this week guys!

New Freshmen!

Please scroll down...

We put a few posts below, just for you!

Debate Camp!

We had two of our teammates venture off to UNT's debate camp this year. Jack and Steven spent two weeks researching, attending lectures, and running practice rounds on the new Space topic. They reported back that they didn't have problems as roommates, now love 'bubble tea', and can explain Heidegger without breaking a sweat. When they weren't playing games on their laptops in the Morning Lectures, they took a ton of notes to bring back for the rest of the policy debaters.

Bake Sale!!!

It's time to fund raise! Your debate team is holding a bake sale at the lake conroe Wal-Mart on Saturday, July 16th from 8-10 am.

All returning members must come with a baked good. Incoming members don't have to.

Tell everyone you know and have a great Summer!

Attention!!!

The information for the debate pre-season camp is in! This camp is REQUIRED for all incoming freshman!

JV and Varsity: August 8-12. Time: 10-4:30.
Incoming Freshman: August 8-12. Time:12:30-4:30.

Try to bring these supplies with you:

• A digital kitchen timer or stopwatch (not your cell phone)


• A package of printer paper


• 2 colors of pens (we recommend Pilot v-ball extra fine)


• A Flash drive (can be small - think cheap!)
• A notebook or legal pad for notes.

NEWS Update!

The "Debanquet" went very well, thanks to our Moms who organized and planned it for us! Also, thanks to Cortez, our MC for the evening! Everyone enjoyed the celebration and recognition for all of our hard work, as well as the dedication and time also put in by the parents!
During the last few weeks, the team hasn't just been relaxing. We have been getting things in order for the upcoming year. We have been ironing out plans like our out-of-town tournament, pre-season camp, t-shirts, as well as....wait for it...fundraising!
For a couple of us, the hard work won't waver as the Summer begins because they will be attending debate camp! All of their hard work and dedication will pay off next year, though when they kick butt!
All-in-all it has been a great year and we are working hard to make next year an even better one!
SEE YA!

For All Incoming Freshmen!!!

As the end of the year is coming to a close and everyone is ready for Summer and the next school year, there are a lot of questions that may come up. The team has already addressed some of the questions you incoming freshmen might have, but those answers may not have "covered all of the bases". There have been a large number of students that have signed up for debate next year and we want every-single one to feel like they are a part of the team. So, if you have any questions that you're just dying to ask, post a comment or email us at: mhsdebateteam@gmail.com and we will do our best to answer them! Don't be shy! We all can't wait to meet you guys next year!

Awesome Season!

Everybody on the Montgomery Debate Team has experienced enormous success and improvement this year, as evidenced by our qualifications to State tournaments. All of our novices this year have been awesome, and we don't expect anything less out of next year's incoming freshman. All of the sophomore debaters want to take this opportunity to appreciate and congratulate our freshmen, seeing as how they have each improved exponentially throughout the season, and our team wouldn't be the same without you guys. Yushea, Jessica, Marisa, and Cortez all deserve recognition, and we know that you guys will continue to become better debaters next year. We look forward to spending another great year with you guys and the incoming fish!

TFA State

TFA State was fun for the Sophomores!

NEWS Update!

After a hard year of work, the team has decided that now is the perfect time to hold our annual "Debanquet" to celebrate all of that hard work. We'll exchange gifts, present all of the trophies we earned, chill out, have a blast, and, most importantly, thank all of the parents for supporting the team! So here's a shout out to all of the parents and a big THANKS! I can hardly wait!

Resources for Incoming Freshmen

Are you an 8th grader thinking about joining the debate team? Here are some answers to frequently asked questions:

Q: Can I be in both Choir and Debate (or Debate and other student activites like Theatre, Athletics, or Band)?
A: Yes! Choir, Theatre, and JV Athletics schedules are easiest to coordinate with, but we have had students in almost every activity on campus. If you are not sure if there would be a conflict, please email or call the debate coach to consult about your personal situation.

Q: Do I have to be in the class to be on the team?
A: Only if you are Debating (rather than Acting or Speaking), and then, only your first year on the team. Most students on the team start out by taking the class their freshman year, but there are some exceptions.

Q:Do I get class credit for being on the team?
A:You only get course credit if you sign up for the class.

Q:How much does it cost?
A: There is an activity fee of $35 each semester and you pay for your meals when we go to tournaments. The team pays for your entry fees, the judge fees, and transportation costs. Fundraising is required to help keep the activity fee down.

Q: What kind of time is involved?
A: A lot!!! Practice is 1-2 hours a week for novices (freshmen) and 2-3 a week for jv and varsity. Plan on attending 1-2 tournaments a month. Tournaments last all day and night on the weekends. We leave school around noon on Friday and return around midnight. Saturday we leave the school around 6am and return around 9pm. This is a big time commitment.

Jack and Steven are now qualified for TFA State!!

In a hard-fought Semifinal round at Magnolia this weekend, Jack and Steven earned their CX qualification. This is our first CX team to qualify for TFA state in two years! Even more amazing, Jack and Steven managed to qualify in only two tournaments. Although both gentlemen are in their second year of debate, Magnolia was only their second event debating as a partnership. Way to go, Guys!

Qualifications for TFA State!!

Now Qualified for TFA State:

Jack Murray and Steven Kayo - CX Debate
Robert Whitaker - LD Debate
Mason Potter - Foreign Extemp
Steven Kayo - Foreign Extemp

Second week back from Winter Break

There was a remarkable amount of positive feedback and enthusiasm from the 8th grade recruitment this year. I'm looking forward to a big crop of novices next Fall! Mr. Clark, Ms. Duncan, and Ms. Hignett went out of their way to find time for the visit and to talk up our program. Without their help, we wouldn't have such awesome students on the team right now!

This weekend we will be competing just a few minutes down the road in Magnolia. Although there won't be a ton of schools attending, most of those who will be there will be good competition!

Next weekend we look forward to taking a larger group to Cy-Woods, followed by Lamar, the last week of January.

Recruitment Week!!!!!

Yup, its that time of year again, Bear Cubs... The annual 8th grade recruitment visit! We are casting our net wide this year, hoping to repeat last year's excellent catch of awesome Freshman Debaters.

This year Freshman have been awesome!!!

Yushea: 2nd place Novice LD in Austin

Yushea and Cortez: 2nd place Novice CX at Spring Woods

Jessica and Marisa: 3rd place in VCX at Cy Springs

and many more...

This year's freshmen have won more top speaker gavels than all of MHS debate combined in the past three years! Awesome!!!

Busy Bears!

We've had a very busy Fall season in 2010!

Special Congrats to TFA STATE Qualifiers Robert (LD) and Mason (FX)!!

The Qualifying season is not over yet. The following team members are well within reach:

Steven (FX) 8/10 points

Steven and Jack (CX) 6/10

Jessica and Marisa (CX) 4/10

Austin (DX) 4/10