Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz! Good luck!
1. Should Ukraine hold a wartime presidential election?
2. Will Hamas’ attack on Israel create a wider conflict in the Middle East?
3. Is el-Sisi making a mistake seeking another presidential term?
4. Will Mexico win its lawsuit against American gun manufacturers?
5. Have Trudeau’s accusations against India backfired?
6. Will the world’s major nuclear powers resume testing within the next five years?
7. Is the global economy becoming less free?
8. Will Kenya’s security mission in Haiti succeed?
9. Are Italy’s existing spending plans unsustainable?
10. What is the biggest threat to democracies across the globe?
1. Will Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster cost the GOP dearly in the 2024 elections?
2. How many ballots will it take to elect a new Speaker of the House?
3. What new technologies should be priorities in the next defense budget?
4. Should the next healthcare reform include the abolition of all private health insurance?
5. Is the GOP winning the immigration debate?
6. Are public schools using too much surveillance technology?
7. Will the next recession be triggered by the commercial real estate sector?
8. What should the U.S. do in response to Hamas’ latest attack on Israel?
9. If Robert Kennedy, Jr. runs as an independent candidate, does that help President Biden or former President Trump more?
10. Should there be a substantial overhaul of the Every Student Succeeds Act?
The first standings of the 2023-2024 Extemp Central National Points Race have been released. Check them out by clicking here or the “Natl Points Race” tab above.
Currently, there are 16 extempers ranked in this year’s competition after the UK National Speech and Debate Season Opener and the Yale Invitational. Unranked extempers will have an opportunity to add their names to the list next weekend when the New York City Invitational, a fifth tier event, takes place at the Bronx High School of Science.
Amy Cao of Ridge High School (NJ) won her second consecutive national circuit title of the year, winning the cumulative tournament by four ranks over April Zhang of Neuqua Valley High School (IL). Zhang captured two ones in the final round but a fourth and fifth place rank cost her the title.
This is the third time that Ridge High School has won the Yale extemp title in the last ten years. James Gao won it for the school in 2019. That was the last Yale title won by an extemper other than McKinley Paltzik, who won three straight titles between 2020 and 2022.
Cao’s win is also the first time that an extemper has won both season opening national circuit tournaments since Miles Saffran of Trinity Preparatory School (FL). In 2013 Saffran won the Wake Forest National Early Bird and Yale in a campaign that ended with a national championship in International Extemp at NSDA Nationals.
Sruti Peddi of BASIS Scottsdale (AZ) reached her second national circuit final round of the season, placing third, eight ranks behind Cao and four behind Zhang. Peddi was a fourth place finisher at the UK National Speech and Debate Season Opener last month.
Shrewsbury High School had two extempers reach the final round. Vishnu Angiras placed fourth and Vasu Lakshmanan finished fifth. Angiras and Lakshmanan tied with a 42 composite score but Angiras did two ranks better in the final round.
The sixth place finisher was Akshaya Karanam of Mount Saint Mary’s Academy (NJ).
Siri Ural of Shrewsbury, who finished last season in the top 25 of the National Points Race after placing fifth at NSDA Nationals in International Extemp, was also in the field. Ural was eliminated in the octa-final round.
Since Yale is a fourth tier tournament in the National Points Race, all of the extempers that reached the semi-final round and beyond will earn points. The first standings will be posted by the end of the week.
Here are the results of the 2023 Yale Invitational (Click here for tab sheet):
Check out this week’s news quiz! Good luck!
1. Is Amazon a monopoly?
2. Will President Biden’s participation in the UAW strike rally working class voters to his re-election bid?
3. How can the FBI restore its credibility with the American public?
4. Should there be federal legislation against “deepfakes”?
5. Has Australia become America’s closest ally?
6. Can Kari Lake win Arizona’s Senate seat?
7. How does the death of the Trump Organization affect former President Trump’s campaign?
8. Should Democrats rescue Kevin McCarthy’s speakership?
9. How should the Supreme Court rule in Acheson Hotels v. Laufer?
10. Did Gavin Newsom err by not appointing Barbara Lee to the Senate?
1. Is global security at a tipping point?
2. How will the recent Libyan floods affect its political situation?
3. What economic reforms does Egypt need?
4. Does the West need to demand more accountability for the money they are putting into the Ukrainian war effort?
5. Will Azerbaijan’s takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh topple Armenia’s government?
6. Should British Conservatives keep Rishi Sunak as their leader?
7. How can Justin Trudeau win a fourth consecutive term?
8. Is Serbia gearing up for a war with Kosovo?
9. Should Thailand change its lese-majeste laws?
10. Has Xi Jinping meddled too much in China’s economy?
Here is this week’s news quiz. Good luck!
1. How would a renewed war between Armenia and Azerbaijan affect the Russo-Ukrainian War?
2. Should Great Britain’s neighbors welcome a change at 10 Downing Street?
3. Would India benefit from a more centralized government?
4. How quickly could Saudi Arabia get a nuclear weapon if Iran was similarly armed?
5. What would a Claudia Sheinbaum presidency mean for Mexico’s energy sector?
6. Would the UN be more effective in there were no vetoes on its Security Council?
7. Will Egypt’s relations with the U.S. be harmed by the indictment of Senator Robert Menendez?
8. Would a longer war in Ukraine make Russia’s armed forces more effective?
9. Is the international community on the cusp of winning the global fight against AIDS?
10. How could increased tensions between Canada and India affect the Sikh independence movement?
1. If President Biden were to end his re-election bid, who would become the Democratic frontrunner for 2024?
2. How should the Federal Reserve react to growing oil prices?
3. Is the U.S. federal government too big or not big enough?
4. How should the U.S. react to the ongoing diplomatic row between Canada and India?
5. Should the RNC continue to raise the threshold of support needed to qualify for subsequent presidential debates?
6. How will Rupert Murdoch’s retirement affect conservative media in the United States?
7. What does Ron DeSantis need to do to reinvigorate his presidential bid?
8. Should the U.S. Senate have a dress code?
9. Will growing numbers of migrants at the U.S.-Mexican border lend greater urgency to immigration reform efforts?
10. How should Democrats handle the indictment of Senator Robert Menendez?
Here is this week’s news quiz! Good luck!
1. Will the Department of Justice’s anti-trust lawsuit against Google lead to Google’s breakup?
2. Should all U.S. states abolish cash bail?
3. Will Kevin McCarthy still be Speaker of House in 2024?
4. Did the Biden administration make a bad deal with Iran?
5. Is the House impeachment inquiry of President Biden a mistake?
6. What does Senator Mitt Romney’s retirement say about the current state of the Republican Party?
7. Will the federal government need to use expansive eminent domain powers to add more renewable energy sources to the U.S. power grid?
8. Should Chicago open city-owned grocery stores?
9. Does the U.S. need to spend more on hypersonic missile technology?
10. How should U.S. cities combat increasing retail theft?
1. Are the European Union’s renewable energy targets too ambitious?
2. What will Iran spend the money from its prisoner exchange with the U.S. on?
3. Does Argentina need to default?
4. How can developing nations best flex their muscle on the global stage?
5. Should France aid possible ECOWAS military action against Niger?
6. How can the European Union’s leadership best deal with the populist right?
7. Is Israel trying to establish permanent control of the West Bank?
8. Are international institutions indirectly empowering autocratic nations at the expense of democratic ones?
9. Does Bosnia and Herzegovina need a new constitution?
10. Is the Washington Consensus dead?
43 extempers kicked off the 2023-2024 national circuit season last weekend in NSDA Campus when the University of Kentucky hosted the seventh edition of its National Speech and Debate Season Opener. The tournament was a fifth tier event in the Extemp Central National Points Race.
Amy Cao of Ridge High School (NJ), who placed eighth in last year’s National Points Race, took three first place ranks in the final round and won the tournament by four over Brandon Cheng of Flintridge Preparatory School (CA).
Cao’s teammate, Aparna Iyer, took third place. Iyer finished nine ranks back of Cao but was five ranks ahead of Sruti Peddi of BASIS Scottsdale (AZ).
Sumedh Seetharam of Scottsdale Preparatory Academy (AZ) and Daniel Song of East Ridge High School (MN) finished the final round tied for fifth. Seetharam won a judges’ preference tiebreaker 3-2.
Cao’s victory is the second time that a New Jersey extemper has won the Season Opener. In 2020, Caroline Xie of Princeton High School won the title in the first year that the tournament went online.
Since the Season Opener was a fifth tier event, all of the finalists will receive National Points Race points. Cao will earn 40 points for her win. The first standings of the National Points Race will be posted after the Yale Invitational at the end of the month.
Here are the results of the 2023 National Speech and Debate Season Opener (Click here for tab sheet):