DKC Awards Night 2017

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On April 4th, 2017 DEBATE-Kansas City’s (DKC) held its annual Awards Night Celebration sponsored by UMKC Communication Studies and it featured a keynote address from DKC legend Corey Fisher, a Hall of Fame Coach induction and over 100 student awards. The event was held at the Kauffman Conference Center and the 200 person room was filled to capacity.

DKCs began the evening honoring the 2017 Aaron Thomas Volunteer of Year, Andy Atkins. Mr. Atkins is a member of the DKC Board of Directors and has put in countless hours preparing a signature fundraising event for DKC, called Q for a Cause. Mr. Atkins, a BBQ competition enthusiast, decded he could provide all the BBQ for s fundraising event and the idea took off from there thanks to his hard work.

DKC also recognized the amazing work of its debate coaches. First was the newest member DKC Coaches of Hall of Fame, Billy Brame of Arrowhead Middle School. Mr. Brame has been coaching debate at Arrowhead since 2007 and over that time more than 500 debaters completed his program. Plus, he coordinates debate internally for all Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools middle schools. Mr. Brame was recognized for his work helping DKC build and grow its nationally acclaimed middle school debate program. Mr. Brame proved in his remarks that not only is he a legendary debate coach but also a outstanding orator who can captivate a room with a heartfelt but humorous acceptance speech.

“Mr. Brame is an educator of the highest caliber. His commitment to debate over the last decade has opened up debate to so many students,” said Gabe Cook, DKC’s Executive Director. “Mr. Brame has been instrumental in DKC success at the middle school level and is always there to go the extra mile for students and coaches in the league. He is a tireless advocate for his students and gives freely of his time and talent.”

Next came regular season coaching awards, which were as follows:

Elizabeth Schilling, Northwest, Newcomer of the Year
Cody Kaspzyk, De Sion, Newcomer of the Year
Billy Brame, Arrowhead, Leadership in Coaching
Linda Collier, Barstow School, Most Innovative Coach
Sohail Jouya, UA, Host with the Most
William Lindsey, LATCA, Most Resourceful Coach
Terrie Miller, Central Middle, Comeback of the Year
Young Lester, Argentine Middle, Presiding Officer Award
Stefan Jones, Coronado, School Spirit Award
Jamelle Brown, Sumner Academy, Most Courteous Team

DKC’s stellar middle school congressional debaters performed a mini debate over whether or not we should cooperate with China in space. Erika Scott of Lee A Tolbert spoke on the affirmative and Tracey Thomas of Central Middle spoke on the negative. Both students delivered great speeches that underscore the value of middle school debate. Victoria Guerra of Rosedale, Leona Whalen of Sumner Academy and Andrea Morfin-Valencia of Smith Hale asked great questions of the speakers and the whole room was impressed by the professionalism and skill of our middle school congress debaters.

After the performance, DKC presented more than 100 awards to students who had earned them through yearlong success. DKC tallies each students score at each DKC tournament all year and routinely posts the results in a league-wide Power Ranking. The final winners highlighted on the Power Rankings were invited to Awards Night.

The last major award went to a very special student; Royal Sullivan of Sumner Academy was named this year’s Mevlin B. Tolson Senior Award winner. Royal has been with DKC since his 9^th grade year and has won about every major award a debater can win. He and his partner Michael Franklin took home 5^th place in the State of Kansas for policy debate and were finalist at the Missouri State University tournament. The also happened to be the top team at the DKC City Championship. Beyond competitive successes, Royal has coached in the middle school league and is a mentor to all DKC students; he is generous with his time and is a dedicated leader. He will be debating in college for Kansas City Kansas Community College and he truly upholds the storied legacy of Melvin B. Tolson.

The evening ended with a speech from DKC graduate Corey Fisher. Corey spoke to the room full of students, coaches and family members about his recent college debate success and offered insights to the next generation of DKC talent about how to maximize your debate career. He told students to be true to themselves and to make time to invest in their success. Mr. Fisher’s remarks capped an amazing evening where DKC honored its best and brightest for their hard work and commitment to debate.

The evening ended with the remarks mentioned above from Corey Fisher. The event was another great evening of celebrating all the success of a DKC Season.