Baltimore Catholic Forensic League
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Baltimore Catholic Forensic League | |
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| Type | Non Profit Organization, Forensics league |
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| Founded | 1967 |
| Headquarters | |
| Key people | Tom Durkin, League Director Bob Dacey, Tournament Director Mary Beth Baker, Asst. Director of Individual Events Paul McMullen, Asst. Director of Lincoln Douglas Debate Steve Sprouse, Asst. Director of Policy Debate Chris Donovan, Asst. Director of Congress Carl W. Klein, Sr., Secretary/Treasurer |
| Website | http://bcfl.net |
The Baltimore Catholic Forensic League (BCFL) is a speech and debate league that is apart of the Catholic Forensic League (CFL) and National Forensic League (NFL). BCFL offers a variety of speech events alongside policy debate to public and catholic schools in Maryland. In recent years however, due to the creation of the Baltimore Urban Debate League, a lot more urban students from Baltimore City have been able to compete in the league.
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[edit] History
For the past 40 years, the BCFL has had a competitive venue for public and private high school students in speech, debate, and student congress. The students who participate come from communities around the Baltimore metropolitan area and a wide area of Maryland from Frederick to the Chesapeake Bay.
The league is also the largest member of the National Forensic League.
| Part of the series Policy Debate |
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| Organization | |
| Policy debate competitions |
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| Format | |
| Structure of policy debate · Resolution |
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| Participants | |
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Affirmative · Negative · Judge |
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| Types of Arguments | |
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Stock Issues · Case· Disadvantage |
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| Argumentative Concepts | |
[edit] Events Offered
According to Robert Dacey, the BCFL webmaster, as of the 2006-2007 year, the BCFL offers these speech and debate events:
- Policy Debate (Novice and Varsity)
- Lincoln Douglas Debate (Novice and Policy)
- Public Forum
- Student Congress
- Oratorical Declamation
- Oral Interpretation of Literature
- Dramatic Interpretation of Literature
- Duo Interpretation of Literature
- Extemporaneous Speaking
- Original Oratory
The league runs 6 competitive speech and debate tournaments per year from October through February. Most tournaments attract over 200 competitors in 9 events with 50 adult judges to provide evaluation. Student congress is usually held during 20 hour sessions once a month during the week.
In March of each year they conduct the BCFL Qualifying Tournament in which the top competitors in 10 events meet to earn positions from the team representing Baltimore at the CFL Grand National Tournament. The Grand National Tournament is held Memorial Day weekend in varying locations, this year in Houston, Texas. The top 6 contestants from each event qualify to attend the tournament.
[edit] Member Schools
As a member school, each one must pay dues to be a part of the league and participate in its tournaments. The BCFL has numerous qualifying tournaments for its member schools so that they may participate in national tournaments around the country. Every high school in the Baltimore Urban Debate League is apart of the BCFL as well, since BUDL covers the cost of their dues.
- Archbishop Curley High School
- Arundel High School
- Atholton High School
- Baltimore Lutheran School
- Calvert Hall College High School
- Carver Center for the Arts
- Catonsville High School
- Centennial High School
- Covenant Life High School
- Dulaney High School
- Fort Meade High School
- Franklin High School
- Glen Burnie High School
- Glenelg High School
- Gov. Thomas Johnson High School
- Hereford High School, Parkton
- Loch Raven High School
- Long Reach High School
- Loyola Blakefield
- McDonogh High School
- Mount Hebron High School
- Mt. St. Joseph High School
- Notre Dame Prep
- Oakland Mills High School
- Pikesville High School
- River Hill High School
- Reservoir High School
- Seton-Keogh High School
- St. John’s Catholic Prep
- Sparrows Point High School
- The Catholic High School
- Towson High School
- Teresa Needer
- Westminster High School
- Wilde Lake High School
[edit] Schools from BUDL
See Main article: List of BUDL high schools
[edit] Differences between BUDL and BCFL
While the leagues do compete interchangeably between each other, (the Baltimore Urban Debate League and BCFL), there are stark differences between the missions and goals of the two organizations.
- BUDL only offers policy debate because, as mentioned on its website, its mission is to educate urban youth in Baltimore City through debate, and does not require that any school pay to be a member to it, but it does cover the BCFL dues of all its high schools in it so that they may participate in their tournaments.
- The BCFL requires that each school pay dues to be apart of it, and since the organization is apart of the NFL and CFL, they are often more likely to participate in those tournaments than other students in urban debate.
- BUDL is often hailed for its awards and recognition that it gives to its debaters at every tournament, and its coaching staff that helps students before and after tournaments.
- Previously the BCFL only offered paper certificates instead of trophies and medals, which, at some tournaments, seemed to stifle participation. Recently however it has began to offer bronze, silver and gold medals for speakers and teams.
- The BCFL also does not have a "champion" at the end of the year, like BUDL. This could be since the primary focus of the BCFL is to get its participants to compete nationally rather than a focus on local competition.
