Volunteers needed to judge at GR tourney

The Green River High School Speech and Debate Team is hosting its tournament Friday and Saturday.

Head coach Carina Stulken said residents are encouraged to volunteer as judges for the tournament, which will take place at the high school.

Those who would like to act as judges do not need any prior qualifications.

A judge’s table will be set up in the main hallway; and judges will quickly learn how to correctly fill out ballots and what to look for in each round.

The team will need the most help during the semi-final rounds, which take place Saturday starting at 11 a.m. and on Friday starting at 3:30 and 5 p.m., she said.

“We are lucky to live in such a great community with people who totally support our program from fundraising to volunteering their time to help judge rounds and talk to our kids at practice,” Stulken said.

“We want to our kids to be bonded with the community and we want them to understand exactly what speech and debate is and what we do every weekend to earn the awards that we do.”

The varsity team will work hard to help run the tournament; and will gain an appreciation of just how difficult it is to run a tournament, she said.

“The varsity are able to see their competition, but they also are the ones helping to run the tournament,” Stulken said. “They help with all aspects of hosting from running concessions, to the judges table, to the tabulation room, to judging novice competitors.”

Although the varsity will not compete, Green River’s novice team will have the opportunity to do so.

“It gives them a chance to have an extra tournament under their belt so that they can learn,” she said.

“This is our chance to show off to the speech and debate community,” she said. “We are proud of our school and our team and this gives us a chance to give back to speech and debate by hosting a quality program.”

The team’s next tournament will take place in Cheyenne at Cheyenne East High School on Dec. 19-20.

“This tournament will allow them to finally see what their competition in Wyoming is going to look like,” she said.

“We haven’t had a chance yet to see all the teams across the state and most of them will be at this tournament.”

“We would like to extend a warm thank you to the community, the speech and debate parents, the staff at the high school and our administrators,” Stulken said. “We are so lucky to have the support that we do; without it we would be as successful as we are.”

Those who would like to volunteer can call Stulken at 871-7208 or stop by the tournament.