By December, the Venomous Agendas' Math Madness run was over, again losing in the quarterfinals of Division I. For the past two months the town heard almost nothing from the school but mathletics, with a bit of sports news and one quiz bowl tournament sprinkled in. The LQBA Fall Invitational South (but the VAs almost invariably omitted the "South" when talking about it), which the A-team won, and the B-team finished sixth. Valerie is still reeling in from this crushing quarterfinal defeat and doesn't wish to talk to her father about it. So she comes over to Anna's home after the band rehearsal:
"I guess you're the only person left in whom I can confide how I feel; I can't ask Chantal or Daisy because they are knee-deep in their debate prep, I can't ask the other mathletes since I already heard from them..." Valerie starts crying in front of Anna.
"Valerie, how do you feel anyway?" Anna asks her.
"I feel like I let the whole town down! Nay, the entire state down" Valerie keeps crying.
"What do you mean, you let the entire state down?" Anna questions her band mate. "You should know by now that nowhere else in the state, and probably nowhere else in the country, do a community attach so much pride in its mathletics!"
"In mathletics, we pretty much are the state. Louisiana just isn't a mathletic hotbed! Plus I start questioning what's wrong with my dad!"
"I think you're a victim of the math team's successes. It's obvious you play well enough to be there. But as much as success at lower levels leads to harder contests, the pressure is ratcheting up here like it doesn't anywhere else! Yet you put too much pressure on yourself, and you're a freshman for crying out loud! Just stay away from mathletics for a bit"
"It's not about whether we deserved it or not, nor is it about whether I'm pulling my weight. But you're right in that this mathletics team is a pressure cooker, and my dad is not helping things! With him, I must prove that I can actually play according to certain standards"
Hopefully venting to Anna would cause my stress levels to decrease, and Anna was the one most likely to provide a different viewpoint. I can tell she doesn't face the same amount of pressure in quiz bowl as I am as a mathlete, since I know she's not playing on the big team, nor is she expected to play at the HSNCT this year, Valerie looks at the redhead violinist while having a lot to think about. And then the two get settled in doing their homework in non-math subjects.
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On Monday morning, Valerie's father, after a quick overview of the results from the Southside Shark Showdown (a debate tournament), starts the announcement as soon as the bell rings.
"Good morning everyone, after this defeat in the quarterfinals of the Math Madness, we finally have some good news: Chantal scores her first victory of the season at the Southside Shark Showdown in extemp!"
Although, in past years, Southside had 2 extemp divisions, this year, extemp ended up collapsed into one division. He then goes on to list other highlights from the tournament, such as Sadie's pair getting to the final, and, of course, the novice divisions of both LD and policy. And, surprisingly, third place in orat.
As per usual, however, the DI player is nowhere to be found since she didn't appear to take debate seriously enough to deliver any semblance of results.
He then reviews the revenues from the Math Madness, which he believes are enough to allow the debate team to attend the Isidore Newman Invitational this week without feeling any guilt about paying for it. Here it seems like he is buying supplies as requested by the various teachers, as well as buying additional materials for the library. To think the VAs narrowly missed Isidore Newman because I waited until we could safely commit the entry fees to submit the school verification form!
Yet he fails to realize the cost of the debate coach systematically placing requests for substitute teachers not only to cover for him in class when the team is gone for the afternoon, but also to use substitute teachers to judge debate tournaments. The secretary realizes that while giving him the requests for the substitutions.
As applied to Isidore Newman, this meant one judge for speech (DI, orat and extemp, this season, Chantal's dad filled that role), one each for LD, Congress, policy and PF) for a total of 5 judges.
"Sir, it seems like the requests for substitute teachers ramp up when debate tournaments are around the corner. The debate team always asks for three substitute teachers for in-person tournaments..." the secretary points out to him, with a spreadsheet of substitute teacher costs.
"I knew debate was expensive, but not that expensive... I'm not sure if the cost of substitutes directly attributable to tournaments can be charged to the team's budget; it's an area we never seemed to get right since the parish policies can be so confusing at times" Glen retorts upon seeing the spreadsheet of substitute requests for Isidore Newman.
I may as well inquire about the busing expenses since the debate team systematically picked a specific driver to chauffeur them to tournaments and also had the driver enter judging obligations as worked hours, Glen muses while he writes to the parish finance department regarding these expenditures. In past years, he was willing to let that issue slide because they only accounted for a small portion of the total substitute costs at the time.
Extracurricular success, yes, but not at all costs; the debate team starts proving a financial black hole for the school. As tempting as it could be to axe it, as he realizes that the real cost is much higher than what was hitherto claimed by the coach. If, on average, the chauffeur claimed 15 hours of salary per tournament, and it costs about $200 in bus fuel on average, then substitutes for a tournament cost roughly the same as transportation expenses.
"The debate team claimed nine hundred dollars per tournament, and that was one night of hotel rooms, entry fees and meals. Now you say that, if you add in substitute teachers and transportation costs it's more like two grand per tournament. I just asked the parish if we can charge these things to the team budget" the secretary asks.
"I am not sure. Ask yourself whether you would do the same for sports: you must treat both equitably, and they, too, incur the same kinds of expenses" the secretary points out.
Quiz bowl doesn't incur these kinds of expenses because every tournament takes place on a Saturday and the coach, as well as players' parents, drive the team from and to tournaments on their own dime. Mathletics might need substitutes but not nearly as much as the debate team.
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Fortunately, the parish's answer is pretty quick and they realize that no, they can't charge substitute costs to a scholastic team's budget of any kind, and busing costs are borne by the parish rather than the school incurring the busing costs. Phew; they said doing this would open a can of worms for field trips, of which there's hardly any. And that's because this place is far away from everything of any educational interest for field trips. Such as the state capitol for AP Government, the National WW2 museum for AP US History, and so on, so forth. It's expensive but if that's the price of placating these townsfolk who want more balanced coverage of subjects...
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The following Monday, the announcement that morning is a real mouthful since news from all 3 academic teams are announced in one go when the kids are about to start their exams:
"Good morning. The quiz bowl team won the LQBA Winter Invitational South on Saturday and Imélie Tremblay was named the NAQT (National Academic Quiz Tournaments, the national quiz bowl federation) Player of the Week thanks to her being the top scorer at that tournament!"
The students in Imélie's AP Chemistry class then applaud her, as she expected, especially since Imélie never was a tournament top scorer before. 97.50 PP20TUH, or points per 20 toss-ups heard. But the second part of the announcement makes questions pop in students' minds:
"And the debate team showed a strong performance at the prestigious Isidore Newman Invitational, led by the novice policy team placing third! Also contesting at this tournament was Chantal Morin, a ninth-grader who was a finalist in extemporaneous speaking! And last but not least, our varsity public forum team has shown some promise for the state championship by being in the quarterfinals of a tournament with multiple state champions in the field!" Glen makes the second part of the announcement.
Meanwhile, a very different kind of thoughts crosses the people in a social studies class in which Chantal is the youngest kid. Has policy debating somehow become valued, or the principal tends to showcase the novices first? I wonder which one is more impressive to the eyes of the principal, placing third in a field of 8 novice teams or sixth in a field of 30 seasoned players? He was right in that we had a strong showing for a team made up mostly of rookies, Chantal muses while memories from various speeches delivered at that competition surface, ranging from post-Putin Russia to restoration of net neutrality.
"Did the principal forget that extemp also had multiple state champions in the final of this tournament?" Chantal asks, with her face turning red and she prepares to slam the desk.
"From which states?" the teacher asks her.
"Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama" Chantal answers her teacher.
"Bravo Chantal"
And the final part of the announcement is about the school's AMC12 results. While it's obvious that not everyone who competed will advance to the AIME, especially not when several kids took it for extra credit, once again, as with last year, girls appeared to be the dominant force.
"This year, fewer students qualified for the AIME than last year, seven as opposed to ten, so a shout out to our mathletes, whose strong performance is worthy of recognition! Especially since, for the first time in school history, a ninth-grader girl qualified for the AIME, Valerie Watkins!" Glen calls out his daughter by name without mentioning the result.
He then lists the results of the 7 AIME qualifiers on the AMC12. Jennifer scoring higher than even Imélie was expected, at 129, but Imélie was still the second-best girl in the state at 124.5. Among the AIME qualifiers of the school, Valerie placed fourth, scoring a 114, behind Cristiano but ahead of Vontae and Phil.
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Upon returning home, that day, Valerie has one more talk about mathletics with her father in her bedroom.
"Honey, you qualified for the AIME! Here's the roadmap for the holidays as well as for January: solve old AIME problems during the holidays, use the WOOT system at Art of Problem Solving for January. You have an advantage over Imélie and Jennifer as it relates to the AIME: while these two are training for the VMC as well, on the other hand, you don't"
"Yet I am at a disadvantage for the USAMO because I am a full fifteen points behind Jenn! I was forced to learn Algebra II and Pre-calculus several times faster than a normal kid would just to get to this God-forsaken AIME! And the Math Madness forced my hand!" Valerie bursts into tears, realizing just how unforgiving this grueling training regimen has been.
Valerie performs more or less like Marcia did last year, but the difference is that Marcia was then a senior competing at the VMC and also juggled quiz bowl, whereas Val is a freshman. Already that Marcia was a formidable mathlete in its own right. Yet, for all her bursts of speed, and Valerie's, they were both marginal USAMO prospects at best, Glen reflects on Valerie's mathletic evolution.
"Specifically, this means go study projective geometry, complex numbers and functional equations once your regular exams end!"
"That's a bit much for me, a ninth-grader! I am not a study machine!" Valerie keeps arguing with her father. "I had very good Math Madness playoffs, at least in the context of my grade! I need a break from math!"
"You're smarter than this, you're smarter than Marcia, too! Each minute spent quarreling over mathletics gets the IMO further away from you!" Glen warns his daughter, who just doesn't feel in the mood for studying any of the topics on his list.
"Fine..." Valerie sighs while she starts reading an online resource on complex numbers and geometry.
My dad wants me to follow in the footsteps of the Élianes, Gens, Kristas of this world. For the past 4 months, I feel like the whole town put me in a compressor! Valerie ruminates while reluctantly looking at the online resource on complex numbers in math contests.
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Meanwhile, in Chantal's home, her parents seem to have some issues about how this extemp season is progressing.
"Honey, I know you went into extemp for international topics. However, while I was willing to chalk up your earlier failures to your lack of experience of competition, here it appears that you're letting us down, that there is something you're lacking that isn't related to how you speak" Chantal's father then sermons his daughter. "At this point you're not making anyone in town a favor"
"How so?" Chantal's mother asks her husband, but she holds her questions for Chantal back.
"As of right now, mathletics still have the upper hand in town. Quiz bowl is making some inroads, but those few among us who disliked mathletics feel like Sadie can't do everything by herself to put debate under the limelight. How do you plan on addressing what went wrong at Isidore Newman?" Chantal's father sternly asks her, staring his daughter down.
"Isidore Newman is a big step up from Southside; I was facing other states' champions in the final" Chantal explains to her parents.
"Notwithstanding how stiff the competition was, it's obvious you performed much better in international topics this season, so why is it that you perform worse in domestic topics? There is only one tournament left where you can focus fully on international topics" her father refers to the district qualifier, or what people in town as well as on the team all seem to call one of two state championships.
"Domestic topics are much more sensitive. In international extemp, I can discuss topics more freely because people are mostly clueless and will often roll their eyes; in domestic topics, people often get opinionated rapidly" Chantal explains herself. "I plan on taking AP US Government next year"
"Before this season started, people close to the team believed you would be the one to bring us glory on the debate floor. I guess Sadie took pressure off you" her mother then tells her.
My daughter's concerns are warranted, but kids her age don't typically discuss even domestic socio-political topics with each other, unless forced to for schoolwork, Chantal's father realizes that, globally, this debate team has not improved since last season. Then again, the Venomous Agendas are clearly the dominant debate team in southwest Louisiana, much like the VAs almost completely dominate the entire state's mathletic landscape.
"I guess, time to brush up on domestic topics over the holidays, even though I know you're the only ones with whom I can discuss domestic socio-political topics without fear of it turning sour"