Scholarships
GENERAL TEAM RULES AND POLICY FOR SPEECH SCHOLARSHIPS
The following form is intended to help you clarify both for yourself and the coaching staff what the accepting of one of these scholarships will entail.
1. Team members must be admitted to and enrolled in North Central College.
2. All students, except those in their first term at North Central, must provide proof that they have a 2.5 GPA overall to compete. Student grades may be checked periodically through the semester. At the end of any term in which the student does not have a cumulative GPA of 2.5, s/he will automatically be presumed to be on "academic probation" relative to the forensics team. A student on academic probation for the first time will have travel privileges reduced at the discretion of the Director of Forensics. In addition, the student on academic probation will be given one term to meet the 2.5 GPA requirement. If a student completes a second term (consecutive or non-consecutive) in which s/he falls below the minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5, then the student will not travel until he/she meets the GPA requirement.
3. Team members need not necessarily be Communications majors or minors.
4. Team members will conduct themselves, at all times, as ambassadors of North Central College. It is understood that ambassadors will, at all times, demonstrate exemplary behavior and the highest of standards in terms of moral, social, ethical and sportsmanship behaviors.
5. While on team trips, all team members are expected to be in and remain in their assigned rooms by the time established and announced by the team coach or an assistant. At no time shall a student be out of his/her assigned room after curfew. There will be no unauthorized switching of rooming assignments.
6. All participants are expected to dress in professional attire for functions in which the speech team is involved. This includes but is not limited to competing, performing, and/or judging.
7. Must participate in three of the following: original prepared speaking events, limited preparation events speaking events (Extemp and Impromptu), interpretation events, and debate. Any modifications of this rule will be done at the discretion of the Director of Forensics.
8. Team members will be expected to attend speech team meetings unless excused by the coach.
9. In addition to attending the weekly general team meeting, team members are required to attend 2 hours of regularly scheduled practice sessions per week with the coaching staff.
10. Team members will be expected to attend intermittently scheduled mandatory prep sessions with the coaching staff.
11. The deadline for signing up for tournaments is the Tuesday BEFORE the tournament at the team meeting.
12. No member will participate in an event, which has not been coached.
13. Typically, no one will be entered in an individual event that has not been approved by the coach as tournament-ready on or before Tuesday prior to the tournament. The Director of Forensics retains the option of waiving this rule under unusual circumstances (as defined by the DOF).
14. Members electing to drop a particular event(s) after the drop deadline of 5:00 Tuesday must pay both the original entry fee(s) and the drop fee(s). Exception: emergency.
15. New non-scholarship members to the team must be prepared to compete in at least two individual events their first semester and three individual events their second semester to be entered in competition. After their first semester, at least one of these events must be a prepared speech event.
16. Former team members/new scholarship students must compete in at least four individual events during fall semester and five events during spring semester. Each semester, at least one of these events must be a prepared speech event.
17. Speeches must be the original work of the student entering competition. No literature or speeches may be used that have been performed by that student in previous competitions, whether high school or college.
18. Each student who is on scholarship must travel a minimum of five weekends in the Fall Term, five weekends in the Winter Term, and to both national championship tournaments in the Spring Term (Presuming that the student qualifies to attend and is invited to do so by the coaches). Some of these weekends will involve traveling to “Swing Tournaments” where the student will be expected to compete at both halves of the “Swing” in order to “Count” the weekend as one of her/his required five travel weekends. Thus, going to just one half of a swing will not typically be counted as fulfilling part of the “Five Weekend” requirement.
19. Students who miss two consecutive team meetings without an acceptable excuse (such as required class or employment obligation) will not be allowed to attend a tournament until they have attended a team meeting. Students excused from team meetings, however, must check-in at some time prior to or immediately following the meeting.
20. Coaches will decide who will fill limited slots. The coaches may withhold a student from a competition who is not adequately prepared for competition, even if the event has received approval. Students could be withheld from competition for a variety of reasons, which would include, but not be limited to grades, absences from meetings, absences from practice sessions and/or appointments, etc.
21. Students who miss three coaching sessions during a semester (without appropriately notifying the coach) will not be permitted to travel until the following semester. No make-up sessions will be scheduled except through prior arrangement at least one hour before the scheduled appointment.
22. Team members will actively and productively participate on the speech team in full compliance with this document.
23. All team members wanting to be considered for a scholarship or financial aid must file an application with North Central College’s Financial Aid Office. In addition, the form must be filed each year for renewal purposes.
24. All scholarship recipients will be expected to assist in the planning and running of the college Individual Events Tournaments.
25. All scholarship recipients will be expected to attend the State Championship Tournament if designated as an entrant by the coach.
26. All team members will be expected to attend the national tournament(s) and participate in all events they have earned qualifications in. The DOF retains the option of dropping from submission "qualified slots" as/if necessary, and retains final control over the submission of the entries to Nationals.
27. No illegal drugs of any type at any function of the speech team.
28. No alcohol is to be consumed at any time that the student is serving as a representative of the college.
FORENSIC AGREEMENT SIGNATURES
QUESTIONS ABOUT TEAM RULES, POLICIES, AND/OR PROCEDURES SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO THE COACHING STAFF. PLEASE SIGN THE TWO SIGNATURE LINES BELOW. RETURN THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT.
I have read the above policies and standards. I agree to abide by the rules, principles, and policies of this document.
Signature _________________________________
Date: ________________
Further, I am aware that if found to be in violation of any of the policies and/or standards that I may be placed on team probation, have the facts of my case forwarded to the Dean of Students Office, and/or be expelled from the team. Under any of these circumstances, I understand that I would be required to pay back any scholarship monies received from the Department for that semester.
Signature ________________________________
Date: _________________
Please return this page to:
John R. Stanley
Dept. of Speech Communication
North Central College
30 N. Brainard
Naperville, IL. 60563
(630) 637-5371
jrstanley@noctrl.edu