Registering High School Student Judges for MS T1 and Required Judge Training

We’re looking for high school student judges for MS T1 at CICS Ellison (1817 W. 80th) and Phillips (244 E. Pershing) on Saturday, October 22nd. Please check the CMSDL Tournament One Schedule.

Coaches from any CDL school may register Varsity debaters who are interested in judging at these tournaments with David by Tuesday evening, October 19th and he’ll let coaches know which students are hired and for which site.

Pay is $40/day for judging at CMSDL tournaments and only judges who are reliable, on-time, and supportive of younger debaters will be allowed to continue as judges.

Please note below that they must attend a judge training (the last one before MST1 is at Loyola Water Tower Campus on Wednesday, 10/19) in order to be hired:

• When: 5 pm – 6:30 pm, Wednesday, October 19th
• Where: Corboy Law Center, Loyola University Water Tower Campus, 25 E. Pearson (near Red Line Chicago stop on CTA), Room L14 (lower level)
• Who: Coaches should register the names of Varsity high school students who plan to attend with David by e-mail by next Tuesday, 6 pm.

The CDL is making a few changes in response to feedback from Middle School coaches the last two years, which has been largely negative toward the experience their students have had with high school judges. These are:

1. All high school students judging must be Varsity debaters and have debated 10 or more high school rounds in a previous school year.

2. All high school student judges must attend a judge training PRIOR to the first CMSDL tournament they judge this year. The first Middle School tournament is on Saturday, October 22nd (more info here). ONLY high school students who have attended a judge training this year will be allowed to judge at CMSDL Tournament One – having judged in previous years doesn’t qualify a judge this year since Middle School coaches have made it clear previous year’s judges were under-prepared.

2. We are no longer limiting high school student judges to schools where there is a mentor coach, although we strongly encourage mentor coaches who plan to attend MST1 to bring their debaters and let David know. Students from any CDL high school are eligible to judge if their coaches register their students with David prior to the tournament (he will respond with whether they are needed and hired for that tournament) and they meet the above 2 criteria.

Our next high school student judge training for the Chicago Middle School Debate League is next Wednesday evening at Loyola Water Tower Campus – this will be the last high school student judge training before MS T1 at CICS Ellison and Phillips, so any interested students who want to be paid to judge should plan to attend.