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Invitation

Looking for a Service Opportunity?

Volunteers needs for the University of Mississippi High School Speech/Debate Tournament on October 28-29.


Dear members of the University of Mississippi community,

The Warren Debate Union at the University of Mississippi is seeking volunteers for the University of Mississippi High School Speech/Debate Tournament on October 28-29.

The University of Mississippi debate team has a proud tradition of hosting a tournament for high school students to compete in a variety of debate and speech events. The tournament attracts hundreds of the best and brightest students from around the Southeast region to Oxford for a weekend of competition, education, community, and fun. High school debate and forensics are a prime opportunity for these students to develop public speaking, communication, research, and advocacy skills. The debate team is proud to offer this chance for students to develop these skills and get a glimpse of what campus life is like at the University of Mississippi.

However, to make this tournament a success, we need volunteer judges. The tournament hosts several formats of debate and more than a dozen speech events. Many judges are required to evaluate the performances of the students and offer constructive feedback.

For more details about this service opportunity, please contact Jacob Justice, the director of the University of Mississippi debate team, at: jwjustic@olemiss.edu.

The upcoming tournament is a prime opportunity to give back to the community and assist in the administration of an important and educational event. We are flexible and welcome volunteers that can spend part or all of October 28-29 judging rounds at the tournament. You do NOT need to commit to judging the whole weekend.

Judging at the high school debate tournament has been recognized as valid for fulfilling the service requirement at the University of Mississippi Honors College as well as other campus organizations.

Prior expertise or background in debate/forensics is NOT required. Judge training programs will be provided to volunteers, and students competing at the tournament benefit from performing in front of judges with a variety of backgrounds.

We are also planning to provide volunteer judges with free food and refreshments during the tournament.

Thank you and please let me know if you have any questions.

Jacob Justice

 

Debate tournament volunteers should be prepared to:

· Register an account as a debate/forensics judge at Tabroom.com

· Complete mandatory judge training 

· Complete mandatory “supervision of minors” training (online; this needs to be completed even if you did so last year)

· Judge debate and forensics rounds on October 28-29

 

No immediate action is needed, but please enter some basic information into this spreadsheet at your leisure: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1av_G1u01lS7wrKX_n-XCMCg65O9Oit-9CI2qwjNdj24/edit#gid=0

Volunteers can also register for the event on GivePulse to receive service credit for organizations: https://givepul.se/9v5o19

For more information, see: http://umiss.tabroom.com/