March 7, 2016
Dear Speech Parents:
It’s
been another year of growth and success for the Columbus East High School
Speech Team. We are grateful for your
assistance in helping us with this growth and success. Whether it was getting your kids to the bus
VERY EARLY on Saturday mornings or helping with concessions at either the
IUPUC/Ivy Tech meet in February or the Columbus East meet in November, the
level of support you have provided has been nothing short of remarkable. Anna
and Matt are grateful to you all for your support of the team, the activity,
and us as coaches.
One of
the big highlights this year took place this past Saturday at Ben Davis High
School (not insignificantly, Anna and Matt have spent almost 48 working, waking
hours there helping run meets… they only brought the team to one of those
meets). The Columbus East team won the leading chapter award for the Hoosier
Heartland NSDA district. This award is given each year to a chapter who has
accumulated the most degrees in a five-year cycle or from the time they last
won the award. It also rewards the longevity of the charter and the endurance of
its team and coaches for continuing to pursue excellence in speech. The CEHS
charter dates back to 1975, so without knowing it, the team celebrated 40 years
of accomplishment last year. When Anna and Matt started recognizing the team
through entering points with the NSDA, they also were bringing the team up to
charter status with NSDA. Thanks again for your support in getting students on
the bus… that’s where this whole thing begins.
The
IHSFA State Speech Tournament is this Saturday, March 12, 2015, at Fishers High
School (intersection of 131st St. and Promise Rd. in Fishers). Anna
will be taking the kids in the minibus to the tournament as we’re so small
numbers-wise. Leave time is 5:45 am. Note the later leave time! Matt was
elected to the IHSFA Executive Board as an at-large representative last year. This
requires him to be at a Friday meeting and help register teams on Friday
afternoon. Matt will meet Anna, the team, and the judges at Fishers High School
on Saturday.
This is an incredibly long day of
competition which requires Anna and Matt to stay the whole day no matter what. There
will be three preliminary rounds of competition, a quarterfinal, a semifinal,
and one final round. Head coaches have
to be there the entire day to judge or work the tournament. If your child doesn’t break semis or finals,
then their day ends at about 11:30 or 12 noon.
If your child breaks to semis or finals, they will stay the whole
day.
If you
are available to take your child home should his or her day end early, then we
will need a signed note stating that you are taking your child home for purposes
of head count and liability at the end of the trip. We would love to have the entire
state-qualifying team stay for the whole day to support semifinalists and
finalists, but understand if your child doesn’t want to stay the whole day. We just want to let everyone know what is
going on going into the State Tournament.
If your
child is to stay for the whole day and leave with the team after the conclusion
of the tournament, then it would be wise if you sent a little extra cash with
them as we will be stopping for dinner on the way home (a tradition that dates
back five years now).
If you
have any questions, please call Matt on his cell (812) 343-7533 or Anna on her
cell (860) 836-0081. Or email us at cehs.speech@gmail.com
or afcarmon@gmail.com.
Thanks again for all that you do, and for all that you have
done for the team this year!
Matt Rothrock & Anna Carmon
