CAD 2009 Registration Open

March 31st, 2009 by quinnolivarez | Posted in Information | 1 Comment »

Registration has now officially been opened! Just go to the ’student application’ portion of the website and fill out all necessary pieces of the application!

Important Information:
Dates: 6/22 to 7/3 (6/29 will be the cutoff for the initial part of the workshop, from then until 7/3 is an optional portion of the camp consisting of practice rounds and special elective lectures).
Location: Westside HS
Tuition: $300.00

We have also made initial staff announcements, which can be checked in the ‘Staff’ portion of the website.

NFL Successes, New Camp Info

March 15th, 2009 by quinnolivarez | Posted in Information | No Comments »

Hello all!

I’m excited to announce that, as of now, a total of 4 CAD alumni have earned NFL Nationals qualifications:

Saif Kazim, Cypress Falls HS - East TX NFL
Liuna Fekravar, Westside HS - South TX NFL
Sara Zaman, Mayde Creek HS - South TX NFL
Tyler Cook, Salado HS - UIL NFL

Congratulations! I’m looking forward to seeing all of you in Alabama!

We now have some camp information to share with everyone. CAD 2009 will be held June 22 through July 3 this summer. This is more than DOUBLE the time we offered last year; additionally, moving further into the middle of the summer will help us in avoiding inclement weather.

Camp will be held at Westside HS, conveniently located near most major Houston neighborhoods.

Tuition will be a bare-bones $300, which is, at worst, $1000 cheaper than any other institute in the nation with comparable staff diversity and quality. We are in the process of confirming staff members for the summer, which will be posted very soon. We will also soon provide a new application, new staff bios and hotel information for those who can’t commute (housing is COMPLIMENTARY).

Please check the website frequently for updates as they come, and with the new dates, please try to shape summer plans around attending our wonderful institute!

Congratulations to our first NFL Nationals Qualifiers

March 2nd, 2009 by quinnolivarez | Posted in Information | No Comments »

A big congratulations is in order for Sara Zaman (Mayde Creek High School, c/o 2009) and Liuna Fekravar (Westside High School, c/o 2010) for qualifying to the National Forensics League National Tournament this summer, to be held in Alabama. Sara and Liuna are the first two CAD alumni to qualify to Nationals in LD. Congratulations to both of you!

About CAD

February 10th, 2009 by quinnolivarez | Posted in Information | No Comments »

The Colloquium for Academic Debate is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization structured as a summer LD workshop in Houston, Texas. We are dedicated to helping bridge the divide between locally and nationally competitive debate, which we see as constructed by a variety of economic and organizational barriers. In our inaugural year, we have yielded 3 qualifiers to the annual Tournament of Champions (with one student a bid away from qualifying) and 14 qualifiers to the annual Texas Forensics Association State Tournament.

We drew in a diverse group of students from all over the Texas area in hopes of giving students a shot at being able to compete with the best of the best when given the opportunity to do. We did this by bringing in the best possible staff that included former debaters and coaches of students who have been successful in all arenas of the activity. Additionally, we made sure to bring in teachers from outside of the immediate Texas area in order to let students experience and learn about the different approaches to debate utilized by those who live in other regions such as the midwest, northeast and west coast. Our staff members understood the immense importance of this kind of institute and accepted the lower pay in exchange for helping contribute to leveling the playing field, so to speak.

This upcoming summer, we intend to capitalize on the successes of the past by bringing in an even better staff, extending the overall camp session and offering an extension program for those who wish to stay longer. We hope that if you are interested in our institute that you please contact us at info@cadhouston.com

We will soon be announcing initial staff hires, the concrete date for this summer’s institute and other important information. Please continue to check the website for updates.

Best,
Quinn Olivarez and Michael O’Connell
Co-Directors, The Colloquium for Academic Debate

January Successes

January 20th, 2009 by quinnolivarez | Posted in Information | No Comments »

The past three weeks have resulted in numerous CAD alumni successes. First, at the Victory Briefs Tournament at UCLA, Jeff Merrill of Mountain View High School completed his qualification to the Tournament Of Champions. Tyler Cook of Salado High School also made it to elimination rounds.

At the Lexington Winter Classic in Boston, Jeff Merrill earned a 3rd bid to the Tournament of Champions, and followed this up with winning the Round Robin as well. On top of that, Tyler Cook of Salado High School earned his fifth bid to the Tournament of Champions. To add to CAD successes at Lex,  Rachel Vogel of Carnegie Vanguard High School was top speaker at the tournament. Additionally, Rachel Vogel of Carnegie Vanguard High School and Tyler Cook of Salado High School were invited to the Lexington Round Robin.

In San Antonio, both James Monaco of SFA Austin High School and Madeline Vuong of Anderson High School advanced to the bid round at the Churchill Classic. They are one away from completing their qualification to the TOC.

Congrats to all on their recent success.

As an update, planning on the 2009 installment of the CAD Summer LD workshop is underway! Be sure to check the website frequently for updates on scheduling, hired staff and other important information.

Halfway Mark, Recognition of Success

December 8th, 2008 by quinnolivarez | Posted in Information | No Comments »

So far this year, 3 CAD alumni have received their first career TOC bids since attending the institute. These students are James Monaco of SFA Austin (c/o 2010), Madeline Vuong of Anderson (c/o 2010) and Tyler Cook of Salado (c/o 2009). We’d like to congratulate these students on this very special achievement. Additionally, eight students who attended CAD this past summer are currently qualified to the TFA State Tournament in March (Josh Tang of Alief Kerr, Madeline Vuong of Anderson, Ali Khan and Saif Kazim of Cypress Falls High School, James Monaco of SFA Austin, Sara Zaman of Mayde Creek, Tomas Lorinc of Plano and Liuna Fekravar of Westside). Congratulations to all of you, and we hope to see many more names added to this list.

As for this past weekend, several CAD alumni were very successful at the UT Longhorn Classic this year. Here are the results:

Tyler Cook, Salado High School - Tournament CHAMPION, TOC Bid
James Monaco, SFA Austin High School - Semi Finals, TOC Bid
Josh Tang, Alief Kerr High School - Double Octafinals
Ruchit Nagar, The Kinkaid School - Triple Octafinals
Madeline Vuong, The Kinkaid School - Triple Octafinals
Jeff Zhao, Katy Taylor High School - Triple Octafinals
Madeline Vuong, Anderson High School - Triple Octafinals

CAD Successes Continue at Apple Valley, Glenbrooks

November 24th, 2008 by quinnolivarez | Posted in Information | No Comments »

Congratulations to Madeline Vuong of Anderson High School on her first career TOC bid at the Glenbrooks this past weekend; Madeline was a quarterfinalist. Praise is also in line for Jeff Merrill of Mountain View High School on his semi-finals appearance at the 2008 Minneapple. Congrats to both debaters!

On the TFA circuit, CAD alumni have been quite successful during the November-December period of the debate season. Here is a variety of results from the past couple weekends:

Klein HS
Sara Meghji and Ali Khan, Cypress Falls High School - Co-Champions
Saif Kazim, Cypress Falls High School - Octafinals and Top Speaker
Brian Hodge, Cypress Falls High School - Octafinals

Spring Woods High School
Joshua Tang, Alief Kerr High School - Champion
Liuna Fekravar, Westside High School - Finalist
Sara Zaman, Mayde Creek High School - Semi-Finalist
Sehar Hirani, Mayde Creek High School - Octa-Finalist

Spring High School
Humale Khan, Cypress Falls High School - Octafinals
Firas Abdulla, Cypress Falls High School - Octafinals
Brian Hodge, Cypress Falls High School - Octafinals

CAD Success Continues at the Heart of Texas

October 21st, 2008 by quinnolivarez | Posted in Information | No Comments »

This past weekend, a notable amount of CAD alumni made their names known in elimination rounds of the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational, an octafinals qualifier to the Tournament of Champions. Student successes are listed below:

Tyler Cook, Salado High School - Octafinals, TOC Bid

Rachel Vogel, Carnegie Vanguard High School - Double-Octafinals

James Monaco, SFA Austin High School - Double-Octafinals

Josh Tang, Alief Kerr High School - Double-Octafinals

Madeline Vuong, Anderson High School - Double-Octafinals

CAD Alumni Successes at Greenhill

September 20th, 2008 by quinnolivarez | Posted in Information | No Comments »

Congratulations to CAD Students Jeff Merrill (Mountain View, CA) and Tyler Cook (Salado, TX) for their doubles and octas appearances at Greenhill, respectively. Tyler is the first of three to qualify to the Tournament of Champions in LD this year!

If you attended CAD this summer and have encountered some success, don’t be shy to let us know! E-mail us at info@cadhouston.com

If you are interested in attending CAD 2009, be sure to check the website frequently for updates on next summer’s installment of our wonderful institute!

CAD Students Succeed Coming Out of the Gates

September 8th, 2008 by mjocon | Posted in Information | No Comments »

Congratulations to all Colloquium for Academic Debate students who competed at the Grapevine Classic, the year’s first national invitational! Student achievements are listed below.

Tyler Cook, Salado High School - Semifinals, TOC bid, 15th speaker

James Monaco, Stephen F. Austin High School - Double-octafinals

But national circuit tournaments aren’t the only important ones. Here is a list of students who were successful at the Elsik Rams TFA Qualifier:

Liuna Fekravar, Westside High School - Tournament Champion

Danny Alexander, Mayde Creek High School - Octafinals