After a solid year of use, our website DID grow substantially, just not in the way we anticipated!  Like virtually everything else, the COVID-19 pandemic really threw off the time we would normally spend updating the site (April & May).  That being said, the pandemic did really stretch our thinking with this site!

Over the past year, here's what we're celebrating as new additions to this ambitious project:

• We used the website to build the first ever EastMO Congress Packet for use by all tournaments.  Not only was this super fast for coaches to access, it made organizing the packet really easy.  Decreasing administrative time means more time for coaching students!
• For the first time ever, we were able to take community award submissions directly through the website instead of email.  A record number of nominations occurred as a result - including MANY student nominating their coaches for Coach of the Year or Assistant Coach of the Year!
• Coaches were able to upload ALL NSDA districts paperwork directly to the website, significantly decreasing the amount of "stuff" they would have had to bring to districts.  (Sadly it was cancelled due to the pandemic)
• During the pandemic, the website was used to keep coaches, students, parents, etc. up-to-date on the status of NSDA, NCFL, and MSHSAA tournaments.  
• An additional collaboration page was created to help students and coaches access resources they might need to get through distance learning (not just Speech & Debate, but general teaching tools, tech resources, grab-and-go meal locations, free internet resources, etc.)
• An entire portal on the website was built in a matter of days to organize a bid system to determine NSDA National qualifiers.  Again, all paperwork was submitted through the website, making working remotely much easier.
• We were able to host the EastMO NSDA District Awards Ceremony -- embedding a YouTube feed made it easy to share the link.
• The website served as a hub for EastMO's NSDA Nats2020 team during the first ever online national tournament.

So what's on the agenda this year?
We still want to get a volunteer page, student page, judge page, and curriculum page established.  But honestly, that's probably going to be on hold for a while longer.

As the world of education continues to change, we'll use this website to organize our Speech & Debate community.  We don't know exactly what that looks like just yet -- needs were emerge as the pandemic continues -- but we expect a frequently changing calendar and (potentially) hosting or supporting virtual tournaments will be a thing!

Stay healthy everyone!

For decades, Speech & Debate in our region - like most regions in the United States - has consisted of several different organizations.  Each organization offers coaches and students specific benefits related to the specific purpose of that organization.  That's still true today, and the activity of Speech & Debate in our region is very strong because of these various organizations.  In fact, each organization provides so much benefit to its members that most head coaches affiliate with a mixture that fits their programs the best.

The organizations listed have collaborated in one way or another for decades because, despite different purposes or foci, all the organizations have one common mission:  Support the rich academic environment of high school Speech & Debate.

But that collaboration also created confusion:  Each organization had it's own web presence.  A coach may frequently, in the course of their year, need to access the GSL website, then the MSHSAA website, then the NSDA website... it was inefficient, confusing, and a barrier for new coaches coming into our community.  Worse... if there was a bit of information that pertained to EVERYONE regardless of affiliation (like a calendar, contact directory, list of tournaments, etc.) our community didn't have one place for a coach to look for that.

​This needed to change.

In the Fall of 2018, Jennifer Raymond (President, GSL), Robyn Haug (Chair, MSHSAA District #4), and Justin Seiwell (Chair, EastMO NSDA) came together to build ONE WEBSITE to point coaches (and eventually volunteers, judges, and students) in the right direction!

The plan was to go very slow and build it "right."  We planned to spend roughly a year slowly building everything and release a fully functional, robust, community-based digital home by 2020.

However, on January 1, 2019, right before the "Districts Season" the "EastMO NSDA" website crashed and could not be recovered.  Plans were accelerated to get coaches the information they NEED to lead their teams through MSHSAA and NSDA Districts. 

We launched this site on January 4th, 2019 -- just six weeks after we came up with the initial concept.  It was NO WHERE near finished, but we needed something out there.

So now this project is out there for the public, but at the same time it's still being built.  

HERE'S WHAT WE'VE BUILT SO FAR:​

• We have an interface for MSHSAA and NSDA Districts that's easy to understand and update from year to year.  
• We have a specific page for the entire community calendar.
• We have a specific page for the entire community directory and invite-distribution list.
• We have one page with a smattering of community-based resources for coaches to use.
• We have one page for notes about community meetings.
• We have sub-pages for each of the organizations.  Some are more developed than others, but it can at least give coaches a starting point to getting the information and resources they need.

Because of the early launch, we focused entirely on COACHES.

HERE'S WHERE WE'RE GOING:

• We're building a "volunteer" platform to help people get involved through judging, coaching, donating, etc.
• We're building a "judging resources page" to help judges feel comfortable with rounds.
• We're building a "student" page so students can get involved in our community through leadership, scholarships, service, recognition, etc.  
• We're building a "teacher" page that will house curriculum and team management tips provided by local coaches
• We're building a "start a program" page to help teachers, administrators, parents, and students develop programs at their own schools.
• Finally, we'll make everything look pretty!

This will take a LOT of time!  Remember that this website is a volunteer-effort and none of us are experts at web-building.

We'll provide updates as we go to this blog.

If you would like to help in this project, contact justinseiwell@claytonschools.net!  We could really use it!