Home: Pride of the Panthers Since 1980

Dear Students and Parents,

Welcome to the Digital Home of the Schimelpfenig Middle School Speech & Debate Team!

I am incredibly honored to be coaching a team that has a reputation for excellence. The team is open to all SMS students 6-8 grade. Below is a brief run-down of the purpose of the team and how often/when we meet. More information can be found by selecting from the menu options on the left side of the page.

Purpose of the Team:

The Schimelpfenig team competes against other middle school teams in PISD in district-sponsored tournaments four times a year. Speech tournaments occur on select Saturdays (schedule here) from 7:30am-5:30pm.

Students can advance through 3 different rounds of competition and receive awards for outstanding performances. Students may choose from a variety of oral interpretation events, public speaking events, and debate (events here).

Team Meetings:

We will have bi-weekly team meetings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 3:45 PM-5:30 pm, which will serve two functions:

1. Informational- Any information/forms/breaking team news will be distributed at meetings.

2. Practical- Once the informational portion of the meeting has concluded, students will have the remainder of the meeting period to rehearse, research, plan, etc. This is a time for students to collaborate with group members and partners, and to use team resources to improve their events. Furthermore, certain event groups will have an opportunity to work with me and one another at select meetings, as denoted by the calendar

Additionally,

All students must be academically eligible to participate in speech tournaments. All pieces/performances must be approved by Mr. Morrison prior to tournament. If your child is unable to make scheduled practice times, he/she must set up an appointment with me to get the selections and material approved. If the piece has not been approved by the deadline, students may be dropped from the event in question (for more guidelines, click here).

Thank you for your support, and I look forward to a wonderful tournament season!

Sincerely,

Connor Morrison

Speech and Debate Coach

Schimelpfenig Middle School

connor.morrison@pisd.edu

(469) 752-6469