October seems to be flying by! If there is anything we can do to assist you or make your leadership role easier, please let us know.
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Each year, the top high school chapter in accumulated members and degrees in each district receives the Leading Chapter Award. The winning school's total returns to zero and it begins a new record. Leading Chapter Awards will be shipped to district chairs to be awarded as part of the district tournament series, and the coaches and administrators at winning schools will receive a letter of recognition. Congrats to the 2024-2025 Leading Chapters!
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Meet the Team: Q&A with Travis Rother, Membership Coordinator
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Please introduce yourself!
I joined the NSDA national office in 2025 after spending five years supporting the National Tournament as an independent contractor and more than 20 years coaching and leading in this activity. For 15 years, I taught and coached speech at Chanhassen High School in Minnesota, where I built a program from the ground up that produced four national champions, 17 national finalists, and 26 state champions. I also serve as President of the Minnesota Speech Coaches Association, where I love helping new coaches find sustainable success. Not that I’d ever pick a favorite event, but if I had to, it would be Informative Speaking—I’ve been fortunate to coach the 2020 national champion, the 2021 runner-up, and the 2025 third-place speaker.
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What does being the Membership Coordinator include?
Your job as a district leader often means working with coaches who need more support than you can provide on your own. You are the best resource for connecting coaches with tournaments in your area, but for everything else, lean on the Membership Team. I can connect with coaches directly to help them navigate NSDA resources, Tabroom.com, points entry, or even questions about coaching a team. Please send them our way. We are here to take one thing off your plate and provide the support they need.
What are you excited about for your first year on staff?
I love helping coaches—honestly, I really love it. Speech and debate has given me so much, and I’m excited to give back in this new role. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work behind the scenes for an organization and an activity that mean so much to me, and I can’t wait to support coaches, leaders, and students across the country.
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| Practical Professional Development: Service Points
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As students participate in communication activities outside of regular speech and debate competition, they can receive service points, earning up to 20 per day and 200 for the year!
Eligible activities include speaking during a religious service, judging middle school rounds, doing a demo debate for new students on the team, or participating in reader’s theatre, one-act plays, or choral reading groups. Additional examples and details can be found in the High School Unified Manual on page 18. Our goal is that these points encourage students to share their time and communication skills with their communities!
Remember that the Board of Directors clarified that students are only eligible to earn points for competitions that include two or more schools, and students cannot receive points for practice rounds against their own teammates.
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Judge Accreditation Update
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New Level 3 judge accreditation modules for each of our competition events will be live on March 15, and they will go into depth about how to write constructive feedback for each event. Plus, there have been updates made to the Level 1 module about how judges can interact respectfully with different perspectives; this module is now called Level 1: Impartial Judging. Judges who have already completed the previous version of the module do not need to take the updated version. The Level 1: Impartial Judging module focuses on three key characteristics necessary for impartial judging, examines how these qualities apply in practice, and offers practical strategies for providing fair, unbiased, and constructive feedback.
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District Spotlight: Teaming Up!
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This month, as competition really picks up and coaches are finding they have a lot of questions, we wanted to spotlight an idea from Ameena Amdahl-Mason, chair of the North Oregon district, who has started hosting Zoom office hours for all Oregon coaches with Caroline Campbell, chair of the South Oregon district.
"When I was at Nationals, I spoke with fellow LD tab staff member Russ Tidwell (chair of the West Kansas district), who shared that he hosts a monthly Zoom drop-in for coaches in his district. I loved the idea and immediately thought it could be a great way to support coaches here in Oregon. Since our speech and debate community is already closely connected across the North and South Oregon districts, I reached out to Caroline—and we decided to team up to make it happen.
Together, we launched a monthly Oregon Coaches Drop-In on Zoom, held on the fourth Monday of each month. The Zoom room stays open for an hour, and any coach can join at any time without needing to register. Our first session in September was a big success! We welcomed both new and experienced coaches, helped one coach learn to navigate Tabroom.com, and had meaningful conversations about regional issues and tournament planning.
As the year goes on, we’ll continue collaborating to share updates about district and state qualifiers, as well as the national and state tournaments. We’ve spread the word through the Oregon coaches’ Facebook group and the Oregon Coaches Association email list, which reaches coaches across both districts. We’re really proud of how this joint effort has taken off and excited to keep building this virtual space for connection and support."
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Each month we want to hear from you! Does your district have a strategy or program other districts could benefit from? Maybe a recruiting bootcamp or a clever way to secure judges for tournaments? We’d love to feature your district—and your idea—in our next digest! Email Kara Smith to share your insights.
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