IN THE COUNTY LEGISLATURE OF JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI
Title
A RESOLUTION congratulating Ellen Baker and Monica Medeiros, juniors at Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, upon winning the policy debate competition at the Show-Me National Speech and Debate Association District Championship, an accomplishment that was featured on the front page of the Kansas City Star.
Intro
RESOLUTION NO. 18787, March 30, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Crystal Williams, Theresa Galvin, Alfred Jordan, and Frank White, Jr., County Legislators
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WHEREAS, Ellen Baker and Monica Medeiros, juniors at the Kansas City Public School District's prominent Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, faced off against forty-one teams from twenty-seven schools to win the policy debate competition at the Show-Me National Speech and Debate Association District Championship; and,
WHEREAS, Ellen and Monica, under the direction of Lincoln Prep's Speech and Debate Coach Sohail Jouya, used their unorthodox style to become the first all-female team to go undefeated in the male-dominated competition; and,
WHEREAS, Ellen's and Monica's win qualifies them for the National Speech and Debate Association's National Championship to be held in Dallas, Texas, in June, and the National Association of Urban Debate League's Championship to be held in April at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles; and,
WHEREAS, policy debate competitions have four times more male participants than female competitors and are considered an elite division of speech and debate tournaments; and,
WHEREAS, Ellen and Monica have honed their unique style of challenging the status quo by adapting several different philosophies as part of their debate technique; and,
WHEREAS, Ellen and Monica began debating together as middle school students at the Kansas City School District's Foreign Language Academy before they both moved on to attend Lincoln College Preparatory Academy; and,
WHEREAS, unlike the majority of top high school speech and debate programs, Lincoln College Prep's debate program is solely an after-school, extra-curricular activity, thus requiring participants' commitment to the program; and,
WHEREAS, Lincoln College Preparatory Academy was recently the recipient of the U.S. Department of Education National Blue Ribbon School Award and has been recognized as a leading public high school in the nation; now therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the County Legislature of Jackson County, Missouri, that the Legislature hereby congratulates Ellen Baker and Monica Medeiros of Lincoln College Preparatory Academy for their excellent showing in the Show-Me National Speech and Debate Association District Championship and extends best wishes to them on their future competitions.
Enacted and Approved
Effective Date: This Resolution shall be effective immediately upon its passage by a majority of the Legislature.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
____________________________ ______________________________
Chief Deputy County Counselor County Counselor
Certificate of Passage
I hereby certify that the attached resolution, Resolution No. 18787 of March 30, 2015, was duly passed on March 30, 2015 by the Jackson County Legislature. The votes thereon were as follows:
Yeas _____9__________ Nays _______0_______
Abstaining ____0_____ Absent _____0_______
________________________ ____________________________
Date Mary Jo Spino, Clerk of Legislature