Welcome to 2012!

It seems like yesterday that we were in San Marcos, TX for the amazing AFA-NIET hosted by Texas State University. After taking a short rest this summer, we are thrilled to introduce the new team! We have yet to take a full team photo because, well, the first few weeks of school have been a little crazy! But here are some photos of the team getting to work! Our first tournament will be at Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson KS, September 29th and 30th. We are geared up for the new season and thankful for your support and enthusiasm. Go Mavs!

Trae Graham, Karlee Currin, Dan Cutter, and Preston Prauner hanging out in Abbie's office!

The new faces of MavForensics on their first official campus tour! Queeny Pimentel, Bridget Hames, Catie Zaleski, Preston Prauner (not pictured but loved equally, Nithya Rajagopalan). Be sure to catch our weekly team updates, posted every Monday. Cheers until then!

Mavs End Semester with Team Championship!

Hello friends of forensics! The team is thrilled to share that they brought home a championship team trophy from the end-of-semester showcase tournament! For the past several years, the University of Nebraska at Kearney has teamed up with Concordia College of Minnesota to host the last tournament of the semester. On the second day of the tournament, schools are invited to "showcase" their events. Students dust off their qualified events and bring everything they have worked on all semester to the showcase event. Many nationally-ranked schools participate in the tournament. This vibrant tournament features the stiffest competition UNO Forensics has faced all year. UNO is proud to bring home two team championships, one for the Lopers are from Venus tournament (held Saturday, December 3rd) and a championship from the Cobbers are from Mars showcase tournament (held Sunday, December 4th). Here are the results! Showcase Results! Traelon Graham: 1st in Poetry, 2nd in duo with Cole, 2nd in DI, 2nd in Individual Sweepstakes. Cole Evans: 2nd in Poetry, 2nd in Duo with Trae, 3rd in Duo with Tessie, Prose semis. Tessie Stednitz: 1st in POI, 3rd in Duo with Cole, 3rd in Poetry. Stephanie Larsen: 1st in Informative. Lauren Ackerman: 1st in Prose. Tunette Powell: 1st in Persuasion. Niveditha Rajagopalan: 2nd in ADS, 3rd in Extemp. Stephanie Henderson: 2nd in ADS, 2nd in POI, 4th in Poetry. Karlee Currin: 3rd in Prose, 6th in DI. Joy Kathurima: 3rd in ADS. Natalie Schneider: 4th in Impromptu.

Results from Saturday! Cole Evans: 1st in Prose Tessie Stednitz: 1st in POI Traelon Graham: 2nd in POI Stephanie Henderson: 1st in ADS Jacki Miller: 3rd in Extemp Karlee Currin: 5th in Prose Hope Stanley: 7th in Informative

Now that the first semester has drawn to a close, the team is looking forward to some much needed rest (and sledding at Coach Abbie's family farm). Happy holidays everyone! We'll see you again in January!

UNO Forensics Starts Strong!

The UNO Forensics team brought home two team championships after their first weekend of competition! The team traveled to Hutchinson, KS for the first tournament of the year. We had many adventures, including a picnic in the park in Fairview, KS and a squirrel funeral at the tournament. Highlights include: Senior Tessie Stednitz won individual sweepstakes on both Saturday and Sunday and everyone on the team broke over the course of the weekend. It was a great 2011-2012 kick-off tournament! Check out results!

Saturday, September 24th:
Tessie Stednitz: 1st in Poetry, 1st in Drama, 1st in Duo with Cole Evans, 2nd in Prose. Overall Individual Sweepstakes champion!
Niveditha Rajagopalan: 1st in Impromptu, 2nd in Extemp
Stephanie Henderson: 1st in POI, 4th in Duo with Lauren Ackerman
Cole Evans: 1st in Duo with Tessie, 3rd in Duo with Trae Graham, 4th in Prose
Trae Graham: 2nd in Poetry, 3rd in Duo with Cole, 6th in Drama, Impromptu Semis
Joy Kathurima: 4th in Extemp
Stephanie Larsen: 2nd in Informative, 6th in Persuasion
Hope Stanley: 3rd in Persuasion
Blaine Miller: 2nd in Persuasion
Jacki Miller: Semis in Extemp

Individual Sweepstakes:
1. Tessie Stednitz (UNO)
2. Brock Ingmire (KSU)
3. Niveditha Rajagopalan (UNO)

Sunday, September 25th:

Tessie Stednitz: 1st in Poetry, 1st in Drama, 1st in Prose, 4th in Duo with Cole. Overall Individual Sweepstakes champion!
Lauren Ackerman: 1st in Duo with Steph Henderson, 1st in POI
Steph Henderson: 1st in Duo with Lauren, 2nd in POI
Trae Graham: 2nd in Duo with Cole Evans, 2nd in Poetry, 4th in Prose
Cole Evans: 2nd in Duo with Trae, 3rd in Poetry, 3rd in Prose, 4th in Duo with Tessie
Niveditha Rajagopalan: 2nd in Informative, 3rd in Extemp, 6th in CA, Impromptu Semis
Stephanie Larsen: 4th in Info, 5th in Persuasion, 6th in duo with Karlee
Karlee Currin: 5th in Drama, 6th in Duo with Steph L
Dan Cutter: 5th in POI
Blaine Miller: 4th in Persuasion
Hope Stanley: 6th in Persuasion
Natalie Schneider: Semis in Impromptu
Jacki Miller: Semis in Impromptu & Extemp

Individual Sweepstakes:
1st: Tessie Stednitz (UNO)
2nd: Cole Evans (UNO) and Mike Dvorak (Hastings College) tied for 2nd place

The team will travel to Bethel College over Fall Break to compete for the second time this fall. If you are interested in watching them perform, just e-mail Abbie Syrek at asyrek@unomaha.edu and you can swing by practice. We'd love to have you!

Photo: Senior Tessie Stednitz won Individual Sweeps both days. She is featured here with coach Cameron Logsdon.

UNO Graduate Teaching Assistantships

UNO Forensics is pleased to announce that we will have a coaching/teaching GTA position available beginning in the Fall, 2011 semester. This position includes teaching 1 section of Public Speaking Fundamentals, weekly office hours, and coaching/traveling with the forensics team. Applications are due on Tuesday, March 1st.

Here is an application check-list to walk you through the process. Please contact Abbie Syrek at (402) 850-1695 or via e-mail at asyrek@unomaha.edu if you have any questions. Please feel free to forward this information along to anyone you think might be interested. We look forward to getting your application!

Graduate School Checklist:

____ Complete the Electronic Application Found at: http://www.unomaha.edu/wwwcomm/graduate/policies.php#admissions

____ Pay the $45 application fee

You can do this online by visiting the cashiering website (link follows). In the last paragraph (above the rotating credit card) please click on "Graduate Application Fee" which is a link to a short form to pay the fee. Cashiering link: http://cashiering.unomaha.edu/

____ 3 Letters of Recommendation

____ 500-word personal essay (saved as a PDF file) that answers the following questions:

1. Why have you chose the UNO School of Communication Master’s Degree program?

2. What are your areas of interest and research? Do you have an idea for a proposed

project, if so please describe.

3. What are your personal or professional plans after you complete the master’s degree?

What do you want to do with the degree?

____ Request an official transcript from all undergraduate institutions you attended and have it sent to UNO

____ Upload resume

School of Communication Assistantship Checklist:

____ Complete this Application: http://www.unomaha.edu/wwwcomm/graduate.php#gta

____ Submit resume

____ Attach a personal essay (not exceeding 1 page) that answers the following questions:

1. What experience/qualifications do you have that qualify you to be a Graduate Teaching Assistant?

2. Why do you want to be a GTA at UNO? (Why do you want to teach and coach forensics?)

Application materials and other supporting documents should be addressed to:

University of Nebraska at Omaha

Office of Graduate Studies

6001 Dodge St, EAB 203

Omaha, NE 68182-0209

NOTE: Once you submit your application, it will be processed within 1 to 2 business days, at which time your mavlink To-Do list will be updated.

UNO Takes State

It was a historic weekend for the UNO Maverick Forensics Team. For the first time in the program's history, the squad took home the title as the top individual events program in Nebraska.

Facing tough competition including several teams consistently ranked among the elite in the nation, the Mavs set personal records in terms of events that made it to finals and racked up seven individual event championships.

Results included the following:

Poetry

Cameron Logsdon - 4th place
Cole Evans - 3rd place (also Top Novice)
Iven Mendoza - 2nd place
Allison Henri - State Champion

Communication Analysis

Hope Stanley - Top Novice
Blaine Miller - 7th place
Niveditha Rajagopalan - State Champion

Program of Oral Interpretation

Cole Evans - 8th place (also Top Novice)
Allison Henri - 6th place
Iven Mendoza - 4th place
Tessie Stednitz - 2nd place
Cameron Logsdon - State Champion

Extemporaneous Speaking

Niveditha Rajagopalan - 6th place

Duo Interpretation

Blaine Miller/Cole Evans - 4th place
Allison Henri/Tessie Stednitz - 2nd place
Cameron Logsdon/Iven Mendoza - State Champions

After Dinner Speaking

Joy Kathurima - Top Novice
Stephanie Larsen - 5th place
Niveditha Rajagopalan - 2nd place

Informative Speaking

Niveditha Rajagopalan - 3rd place
Allison Henri - State Champion

Prose Interpretation

Cole Evans - 3rd place (also Top Novice)
Iven Mendoza - State Champion

Impromptu Speaking

Brian Robinson - 2nd place

Dramatic Interpretation

Traelon Graham - 5th place (also Top Novice)
Tessie Stednitz - 4th place
Cameron Logsdon - 2nd place
Iven Mendoza - State Champion

Persuasive Speaking

Brian Robinson - 4th place
Niveditha Rajagopalan - 2nd place*

*By placing 2nd, Niveditha qualified for the Interstate Oratory Competition at James Madison University in Virginia. It is the oldest speaking competition in North America, and the top two finishers from each state in the country qualify to compete.

Niveditha Rajagopalan placed 3rd in Individual Sweeps, while Iven Mendoza won top overall speaker in Individual Sweeps.

UNO also won the "Quality Award," which is awarded to the team that scores the most amount of points given the size of their entry.

UNO placed first overall in the Individual Events competition.

The team will travel to Manhattan, Kansas and host a tournament on campus before turning their focus to the American Forensics Association National Tournament held at Kearney, Nebraska beginning April 2nd.

Pancakes for a Purpose!

Photo: This is one of my favorite pictures from the season. Tessie (junior) dressed up as a bumblebee for Halloween! She and coach Abbie are doing the spinning-hug thing.

Hi friends,

Whew, we can't believe how quickly this first semester has flown by! We only have two more tournaments left in the fall semester. The team travels to Hastings College this afternoon and then will make a trip to Kearney the first weekend in December.

This year has been absolutely magical. We have an amazing group of kids. But as most of you probably know, budget is always a huge concern for us. We already have several students qualified for the national tournament in April, problem is, we still don't have the tournament paid for. So, we're having Pancakes for a Purpose! On Thursday, December 2nd from 5-7pm, the Pancake Man will be serving all you can eat pancakes and sausage as a fundraiser to send our team to nationals! We'll have a cake walk and other fun games, and trust us, these cakes are delicious! We need to raise $3,500 between now and April, so we are counting on all of our friends and family to consume pancakespancakespancakes so our speech kids can go to nationals, instead of crying in a corner in April! :)
Prices for all-you-can-eat pancakes and sausage:

Adults: $7
Children ages 5-10: $5
...Children 4 and under eat for free!

The event will be in Omaha at Royal View Hall. This venue is across the street from Rosenblatt Stadium. Take the 13th street exit (exit 454) toward Stadium/Zoo. Royal View Hall will be at the intersection of 13th and Phelps (your third right). There is limited parking near the building, so it is suggested that people park across the street in the Rosenblatt parking lot.

If you cannot attend the pancake feed, please consider making a donation to the team on our online website. Any amount is appreciated and will make a difference for our students. Also, if you donate on this website, you'll receive a tax-deductible receipt! YAY! Here is the link:
https://nufoundation.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=895



Photo: Look at these kids! Aren't they vibrant young professionals? They need your help! Come eat pancakes!

Forensics Kicks Off!

Eastin Yates, Tessie Stednitz, Allison Henri and Stephanie Larsen.


Hello friends! Well, the forensics season has officially begun. It's been so busy that we haven't yet posted results from LAST week's tournament, let alone THIS week's tournament.

So, below you'll see results from our weekend in Hutchinson, KS (both Saturday and Sunday), as well as our weekend in magical Manhattan, KS (both Saturday and Sunday).

Results from K-State/KSU Alumni Swing

Saturday, October 2nd

• Niveditha Rajagopalan: 1st in Persuasion, 1st in After-Dinner Speaking (ADS), 2nd in Info, 4th in Impromptu, 6th in Extemp.
• Cameron Logsdon: 1st in POI, 1st in DI, 2nd in Poetry, 3rd in Prose.
• Allison Henri:1st in CA, 1st in Poetry, 2nd in Prose, 3rd in Duo with Tessie
• Tessie Stednitz: 3rd in Poetry, 3rd in Duo with Allison
• Eastin Yates: 5th in Duo with Stephanie, 4th in POI, 4th in DI
• Stephanie Larsen: 5th in Duo with Eastin
• Brian Robinson: 2nd in Extemp, 3rd in Impromptu, 3rd in ADS
• Blaine Miller: 3rd in CA
• Jacki Miller: 2nd in Impromptu, 4th in Persuasion
• Cole Evans: 3rd in POI, 6th in Prose
• Trae Graham: 5th in Poetry
• Hope Stanley: 7th in Extemp

Individual Sweepstakes
Three awards were given in individual sweepstakes, all of which went to UNO students.

• 3rd: Niveditha Rajagopalan
  
• 1st: Allison Henri and Cameron Logsdon had an unbreakable tie for 1st place.

Team Sweepstakes:

• 3rd: Doane College
• 2nd: UNL
• 1st: UNO

The team in Manhattan, KS (missing Iven).

Sunday, October 3rd

• Niveditha Rajagopalan: 1st in Persuasion, 1st in ADS, 3rd in Impromptu, 4th in Extemp.
• Cameron Logsdon: 1st in Poetry, 1st in Drama, 2nd in Prose.
• Allison Henri: 1st in Prose, 2nd in Duo with Tessie, 4th in Communication Analysis (CA).
• Joy Kathurima: 3rd in Persuasion
• Traelon Graham: 5th in Poetry
• Stephanie Larsen: 4th in Informative
• Blaine Miller: 3rd in CA, 5th in Duo in Cole
• Cole Evans: 2nd in Program of Oral Interpretation (POI), 5th in Duo with Blaine
• Eastin Yates: 3rd in POI, 5th in DI
• Tessie Stednitz: 2nd in Duo with Allison, 3rd in Prose,3rd in Drama
• Brian Robinson: 6th in Impromptu
• Jacki Miller: 6th in Extemp

Individual Sweepstakes

Three awards were given in individual sweepstakes, all of which went to UNO students.

• 3rd: Allison Henri
• 2nd: Cameron Logsdon
• 1st: Niveditha Rajagopalan

Team Sweepstakes

• 3rd: Doane College
• 2nd: UNL
• 1st: UNO

Results from the Hutchinson Community College Swing

For fun, I'm going to refer to the team by some of their nicknames from time to time...because I think you'll enjoy it. And because I love them and they're all terms of endearment. :)

Cole and Blaine having fun.

Saturday, September 25th

• Niveditha Rajagopalan: 1st in Persuasion, 3rd in Informative, 4th in ADS, 5th in Impromptu
• Cameron Logsdon: 1st in POI, 1st in Duo with Doza, 3rd in Poetry
• Allison Henri: 1st in Poetry, 3rd in Duo with Tessie, 5th in CA
• Tessie Stednitz: 1st in Poetry, 3rd in Duo with Allison
• Eastin Yates: 6th in DI
• Stephanie Larsen: 5th in Informative
• Brian Robinson: 1st in ADS
• Blaine Miller: 2nd in Duo with ColE, 3rd in CA
• Jacki Miller: Semifinal in Extemp, Semifinal in Impromptu
  
• Cole Evans: 2nd in Duo with Blaine, 5th in Prose
• Iven Mendoza: 1st in DI, 1st in Duo with Cambo, 6th in Prose, 6th in POI
• Joy Kathurima: 2nd in Persuasion
• Traelon Graham: 6th in Poetry
  

Team Sweepstakes

• 3rd: K-State
• 2nd: UNL
• 1st: UNO

Trae Graham, Hope Stanley, Brian Robinson, Jacki Miller, Joy Kathurima and NivRaj.

Sunday, September 26th

• Niveditha Rajagopalan: 1st in ADS, 2nd in Persuasion, 2nd in Informative, 5th in Impromptu, 5th in Extemp
• Allison Henri: 1st in Poetry, 2nd in CA, 2nd in Duo with Tessie
• Cameron Logsdon: 2nd in Prose, 2nd in POI, 3rd in DI
• Brian Robinson: 1st in Impromptu, 4th in Extemp, 5th in ADS
• Tessie Stednitz: 2nd in Poetry, 2nd in Duo with Allison, 5th in Prose
• Stephanie Larsen: 5th in Informative
• Blaine Miller: 1st in CA, 5th in Duo with Cole
• Jacki Miller: 1st in Persuasion
• Cole Evans: 3rd in Prose, 5th in Duo with Blaine
• Iven Mendoza: 1st in DI
• Traelon Graham:4th in Poetry
  

Team Sweepstakes

• 3rd: K-State
• 2nd: UNL
• 1st: UNO