[eDebate] Harker Invitational 2003

[Matthew Brandstetter]

Dear Colleagues:

The staff and students of the Harker School Debating Society cordially
invite you to attend the Fourth Annual Harker Invitational Debate
Tournament on our campus on Saturday and Sunday, September 27-28, 2003.
Our tournament will have both junior varsity and varsity divisions of
Policy and Lincoln-Douglas debate as well as one open division of
Parliamentary debate.

Last year's policy tournament champions were Homestead High School (Goel
and Heller). In the final debate, they defeated Saratoga High School
(Chang and Wang). The Grand Sweepstakes winner was Lynbrook High School.

The deadline for entries is Friday, September 19, 2003. Four teams in
each division of debate are accepted on a first-come, first-served
basis. We will once again have registration online beginning in mid-July
at
www.joyoftournaments.com/harker . If you wish to get a head start on
registration, you may e-mail or snail mail me your registration ahead of
time at matthewb at harker.org or The Harker School, 500 Saratoga Avenue,
San Jose, CA 95129, Attention: Dr. Matthew Brandstetter. 

The entry fees for policy debate are $65, for Lincoln-Douglas, $45, and
for Parliamentary, $40. Each school is asked to provide a $25
administrative fee to cover the costs of room use and clean up as
required by the school. A fine set of awards will be presented to all
elimination round participants as well as to the top 10 speakers in both
Lincoln-Douglas and Policy debate. We will continue our tradition of
awarding sweepstakes awards to three schools accumulating the most
points during the course of the tournament.

Schools should supply competent judges to accompany their teams. We
expect to have a very qualified judging pool for the varsity policy
divisions from which to provide hired judges @ $100 per uncovered team.
Schools may cover their teams with one judge per two policy teams, one
judge per three Lincoln-Douglas debaters, and one judge per two
Parliamentary teams. 

The Towne Suites by Marriott will serve as our tournament hotel. The
hotel is next door to Harker, within walking distance to the school. The
Towne Suites have established a block of studios at the rate of
$69/night. These studios come with complete kitchens, cable television,
ironing boards, hair dryers, and will accommodate three persons quite
comfortably. The direct line to the hotel is 408.984.5903.

Harker High School is just 15 minutes from San Jose International
Airport. We are freeway close, just off the 280 Freeway at Saratoga
Boulevard. Exit Saratoga ramp traveling north and the Harker School is
the first driveway on your right at 500 Saratoga Avenue. The Town Suites
by Marriott is just one block north at 440 Saratoga Avenue.

We do hope you will join us in California this September. Northern
California is typically quite pleasant at that time of the year. If you
have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me 408.345.9235 or
better yet, e-mail me matthewb at harker.org. We look forward to
facilitating some good competition and judging and providing you with
some good hospitality.

Sincerely,


Matthew Brandstetter, Ed.D.
Chair, Department of Communication
Director of Forensics
The Harker School
408.345.9235