On Friday January 13 and Saturday the 14th the Dogies played host to nine schools and over 70 competitors from Wyoming and South Dakota for the annual January Speech and Debate Tournament! With usual Dogie greatness this year’s tournament was fun for teams, coaches, judges and even the hard working Newcastle Dogie Speech and Debate Team! The Dogie hallways looked like ant hills at times but this controlled forensic chaos was actually well managed in large part thanks to head coaches: Speech Coach, Andi Peterson and Debate Coach, James Stith.

The beauty of these tournaments is that not only do the team members get first hand knowledge of how much work it takes to build a tournament and then operate a functional tournament but community members are able to offer their time and efforts to help and they in turn gain understanding and appreciation of the process as well. Added bonus the community gets a boost in our economy from all of the teams that consume food, fuel for busses and motel rooms, lots of motel room! All in all this weekend was a great success for our community. Hats Off to the Newcastle Dogies Speech and Debate Team!