Icommunicate (iCom) Speech and Debate Club

Club Policies 2007-2008

Mission Statement

Icommunicate (iCom) Speech & Debate is a Christian club for home schooled students. We support the mission of the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association (NCFCA), which states that formal speech and debate can provide a means for home schooled students to learn and exercise analytical and oratorical skills, addressing life issues from a biblical world view in a manner that glorifies God.

Leadership Team

Craig and Odalys Sivils

Shaun and Sue Sorensen

Frank and Becky Thompson

Ron and Jerri Jones

 Speech Club

The purpose of the Speech club is to train and prepare students for speech tournaments. Meetings will begin promptly - please plan to arrive a few minutes early to get settled to respect our parent coaches that have volunteered their time. The club provides instruction, practice sessions and critiquing for the NCFCA speech categories. This is accomplished as a cooperative effort with each student striving to do his/her best. Weekly meetings include teaching time and small group exercise/practice time with parent coaches/assistants. Students will choose appropriate literary pieces from good books or original literary works, depending on the speech category. Practice and homework may take 2-3 hours per week until pieces are selected and memorized.

Debate Club

The objective of the Debate club is to train and prepare students for debate tournaments. Students can choose either Team (policy) debate or Lincoln Douglas (values) debate. Meetings will include teaching time, small group exercises and practice time (with parent coaches), to develop debate skills as well as affirmative and negative arguments for this year's NCFCA resolution. Meetings will begin promptly - please plan to arrive a few minutes early to get settled to respect our parent coaches that have volunteered their time.  
 
Debate research and homework could take 3-5 hours per week. There are hundreds of different cases each year, making it impossible for one team to research and adequately prepare to refute each case. The greatest benefit of the club is to pool the efforts of all the students in researching and preparing briefs against known cases. Students will be given assignments to prepare briefs on the cases they went negative against at the previous tournament. Briefs will be shared among club members to contribute to this effort. This approach will strengthen and equip our debate teams and provide an atmosphere of serving and encouraging one another.

Requirements

Student success requires parental involvement! Parents are encouraged to attend a minimum of 2 club meetings a month with their students.

Parental support will be required for tournaments and Round Robins hosted by our club.

Dress Code

The spirit of the dress code is modesty and professionalism with the intent to glorify Christ. The goal is to minimize the focus on the body or outward appearance and maximize the focus on the development of ideas and communication skills. Young ladies should wear modestly fitted clothing and must have NO midriffs showing. No tank tops, no low-cut blouses, and no T-shirts with offensive slogans will be allowed.

Tournaments

Students must be between the ages of 12-18 on January 1, 2007, and must be home schooled at least 51% of the time to compete in speech & debate tournaments. The dress code for tournaments is professional business attire. One parent is required to accompany his/her student to tournaments and will be trained to serve as a judge and timekeeper.

Students competing in the Jr. Division must be at least 8 years of age by Jan. 1, 2007. The three events for their division include Open Interpretation, Original Oratory, and Impromptu speeches. They must not exceed 5 minutes in length. 
 
Approximately three practice tournaments are held prior to the State and Regional qualifiers. Students that qualify for the Regional Tournament (in April) will have the opportunity to qualify for the National tournament in June (location TBA). The competition season typically starts in November.  
 

Club Facility 

We are grateful to West Houston Church of Christ for generously allowing us the use of their beautiful facility. We expect club members to treat all people and the property with the utmost honor and respect. This applies to any facility we are privileged to use for round robins, conferences, tournaments, etc. No food or drinks are allowed in the classrooms.

Club Meetings

Club meeting will be held on Thursdays. 
 
Speech: 7pm-9pm (first Thursday of the month only) 

Debate: 7pm-9pm (2^nd, 3^rd, 4rth and 5^th weeks of the month) 
Location: West Houston Church of Christ 7100 West Rd., Houston,Tx 77095

Communications

All announcements including club meetings, tournament information and other events will be communicated through the parent and student yahoo groups. Families are responsible for checking email regularly to stay informed. To join the yahoo groups, send parent and student's name and email addresses TBA. 
 
Suggestions? Your input is important to us! We welcome your feedback and are always looking for ways to improve. We ask that you take the time to jot down your suggestions and email them to our Communication coordinators at TBA.

Childcare

Siblings of participating speech and debate students that demonstrate the necessary maturity may volunteer as timers at round robbins and tournaments. There is no area where siblings may play or do homework at the church. Parents are responsible for coordinating the necessary arrangements for their families during this time. Absolutely no siblings allowed to stay without a parent present.

Registration

1.   Attend Parent Orientation meetings. Refer to our website for dates and times.

2.   Complete the Registration Form.

3.   Annual Non-refundable Club Fees: $100 for the first student and $20 for each additional student with a maximum of $140 per family per year.

 Registration and all club fees are due Sept 13,2007.

Please make checks payable to Icommunicate Speech and Debate Club.

4.   Submit Enrollment form and fee to:

Odalys M. Sivils

17802 Shadow Valley Dr.

Spring, Texas 77379

Other costs to consider: