We're Underway! Important Updates and To-Dos for Students & Parents

On Tuesday, September 13th, we welcomed 55+ novice members to our program at Novice Night – and we expect to welcome even more in the next couple weeks! It's a busy, exciting time for us at PASD. We also wrapped up our first tournament, the University of Kentucky Online Season Opener (UKSO), where Sarabeth Huang '24 & Sophia Kim '24 turned in stand-out performances in Public Forum Debate, making it to the top 16 teams in a highly competitive field of 135+. They earned a Silver Bid to the Tournament of Champions (TOC)!

With practices & tournaments underway, there are quite a few important to-dos for both students & parents. I've created a new centralized tournaments spreadsheet so you can more easily visualize the entire 2022-23 season.

To-Dos For Students

• Download the Slack app to your laptop/phone and join the Paly Speech & Debate Slack space to receive all updates and announcements. If you're not on Slack yet, email Kyle at KyleHietala@gmail.com to get added. 
• Create an account with the National Speech & Debate Association and request to be added to Palo Alto High School. This is necessary for you to attend tournaments. 
• Start attending Tuesday practices with the team. You must check Slack channels for each squad (Congress, Extemp, LD, PF, Speech) for details about exactly where & when to meet. You can attend any squad practice, and you don't have to stick with the same squad each week. 
• [OPTIONAL] Order a newly designed team t-shirt! Orders are due by September 25th.
• [OPTIONAL] Schedule a start-of-season 1:1 meeting with Kyle to discuss your goals. 

To-Dos for Parents

• Complete the Day Trip Waiver Permission Slip
• RSVP for Welcome Night & Parent Orientation on 9/29 @ 7pm (intended primarily for new members, but also encouraged for returners). 
• RSVP for a Parent Judge Training session (we rely on parents to judge, as it is required by our league for most tournaments). 
• Create an account on Tabroom so you can receive updates about your child's participation in tournaments. 
• [OPTIONAL] Complete the Volunteering & Support Form if you'd like to help the team this year. If you'd like to help with carpools to tournaments, please complete the Volunteer Driver Form and return to Kyle at KyleHietala@gmail.com.