CDL Monday Memo — vol. I, no.1, July 9, 2012

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the CDL Monday Memo, the new weekly collection of important announcements, links, documents, and reminders from the CDL administration. To be published each week of the year on the programming site, the Monday Memo will not entirely replace email and programming website posts during the week, but it will reduce their number and will enable coaches to focus on key communications, helping them do their extremely valuable jobs better and more efficiently. Coaches should feel fully responsible for reading, absorbing, and responding to the contents of the Monday Memo — and of course raise with us any questions that it elicits.

This opening, mid-summer issue will be especially brief.

1. 2012 CDL Pre-Season Student Workshops — Registration Reminder

These workshops, to be held at the Loyola Law School on the Water Tower Campus August 6 – 8, are the CDL’s programming response to CPS’s elimination of summer enrichment programs caused by its budget situation, and will be the best opportunity your debaters will have this summer of getting prepared to begin the 2012/13 debate season and to debate the transportation infrastructure topic (each participant will receive a set of 2012/13 Core Files). Details and full registration information on the programming site’s dedicated PSW page.

2. 2012 CDL Coach Training Courses — Registration Reminder

Two courses — Intro (July 23 – 26) and Varsity Debate (July 30 – August 2). The first is nearly essential for new and fairly new coaches; the second is recommended for all coaches who want to understand more advanced argumentation and how to coach it. Details and full registration information (which is still open) on the programming site’s dedicated CTC page.

3. Seniors Tracking Project

CDC Summer Programming Associate Elyse Conklin (who will soon be taking a position with the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues) is working with CDC Summer Intern Lucia Hernandez on the Seniors Tracking Project. The purpose of this project is to collect vital post-secondary information on all of the SY2012 CDL seniors. Over the next two weeks Elyse and Lucia will be contacting coaches from all CDL schools who have not yet provided this info on your seniors from last year. Please help them obtain and package this “outcome data” for our supporters and funders, including CPS.

We hope you’re having an enjoyable, engaging, and fulfilling summer so far, however you’re spending it.