Letter from the President
July 2007
I hope that you are all enjoying your summer! Get lots of rest; I'm sure the next school year will bring as many changes and challenges for all of you as it will for me.
I'd like to thank you again for entrusting me with the position of president of this great organization. It has been such a wonderful experience for me to be a part of NTDA; I have learned so much and my students have benefited so much from our membership, and I hope to give even a fraction back.
We have a few very pressing issues ahead of us this year, some of which must be dealt with as soon as possible.
The first involves the size of our organization. The last four years have brought a steady decrease in the number of member schools, and we must do everything we can to reverse that trend. I would like to see an increase of 20% during this school year. We can achieve this goal by encouraging schools who have previously been members to join again and by seeking out new coaches who are looking for a home. On the NTDA website, you should be able to access a brochure under "Join NTDA." If you host a tournament, I am asking you to make copies of the brochure and place them in the envelope/folder/bag for each school. Please encourage any school that does not currently belong to ntda to join and participate.
You may notice a few tournaments missing from the calendar. We did remove those tournaments sponsored by schools who have not been paying dues. If your favorite tournament is not on the new calendar, please encourage the coach at that school to join again! Most likely, it was a simple oversight that they'll be happy to correct.
The second important issue involves money. I'll be very honest with you: I simply detest having to obsess about money. However, if this organization is to continue, I am going to have to do just that. Our past treasurer, J Barton, was able to pay all of this year's scholarships before he passed an empty wallet on to the new treasurer, Nikki Seimears. Unfortunately, we are going to have a problem if anyone from a previous year is still owed money. Therefore, I am going to ask you all to get your membership dues in to Nikki as soon as you possibly can after your school's fiscal year begins; that way, we can pay the Jordan Scholarship in December as well as have a little money in the account.
Here is the final, I hope, schedule for this year's NTDA Championship Tournament. All rounds will be held at Lindale High School.
Friday, February 29:
Round I - 4:30
Round II - 6:30
Round III - 8:00
On Saturday, March 1:
8:30 - Prose/Poetry Prelims
CX/LD Quarters
9:30 - Informative and Persuasive Prelims
10:30 CX and LD Quarters
12:00 Lunch and Membership Meeting
1:30 All Finals
3:30 Awards
Students may register for multiple events. HOWEVER: if they break to finals in their debate event, they will have drop the I.E. They may enter both interp and extemp in prelims, but will have to choose which to compete in for finals. (Students must qualify for each event they enter by placing in the top six at one of our qualifying tournaments listed on the ntda's calendar). Hopefully, this schedule will allow as many students as possible to enter as many events as possible, while still allowing us to finish early. We'll see how it goes.
I apologize for the lengthy letter. Please help me to accomplish the goals I have mentioned to strengthen NTDA. Do not hesitate to let me know if there is anything I can do to help you this year.
Yours in service,
Kristi Hodgkiss, president
Northeast Texas Debate Association