← Speeches & Workshops

Brains Hit Broadway!

The 2009 IESA Scholastic Bowl Workshop

9:00-9:30 The Ticket Booth is now open! The Radisson Scholastic Theatre rolls out its red carpet for all Scholastic Bowl coaches. Please have your chauffer deposit you at the front door where you’ll work your way through the paparazzi. Plenty of limousine parking in the rear.

(if you’re having a General Assembly like last year) The Grand Overture! A quick gathering of the SB fans as we gather in the lavish ballroom for a quick, pre-show taste of what’s to come today and throughout your season as the Lion King of IESA events, Scholastic Bowl, takes the stage!

1. “Ring up the Curtain! Cue the Orchestra!” A live-action demonstration by teams displaying the actual song-and-dance of the world-famous Scholastic Bowl Routine.!

2. “Record-Keeping Need Not Be “Wicked!” ...or so says Russ Burch of Taylorville as he takes you down the Yellow Brick Road of keeping team records. No more musing, “If I only had a brain!

3. “Mama Mia! Make Me a Winner!” And Impresario Linda Wilson of Macomb, flashdance director of a two-time state championship team, is just the gal to show you how to get your Guys and Dolls headed toward the Tony Awards.

4. “You Gotta Have A Gimmick!” Sister John “Gypsy Rose” Baricevic, state moderator and former coach, will lead you down the Great White Way of practice techniques, including a few brief scenes on using the Internet for rehearsal.

5. “The Beauty and the Beast” of Scholastic Bowl competition, Fine Arts and Language Arts, will be spotlighted in this session by that Central Illinois master show-lady, Suzanne Pettyjohn of Rochester. One taste of the Pettyjohn Method and your kids can win the spelling bee in Putnam County or anywhere else.

6. “Ready? On Your Toes! Five! Six! Seven! Eight!” Straight from her tour of Sister Act, Sister John Baricevic, state moderator and former coach, promises you a workshop that really counts in Scholastic Bowl as she spreads the wonderful world of math strategies before your dancing feet.

7. “Okay Girl, now Work It! Work It!” St. Jacob Triad’s master scholastic bowler, Linda Walgamott, gets down and dirty and refreshingly practical as she explains the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang nuts and bolts of making Scholastic Bowl work with your local troupe. (No bad acts allowed.)

8. “Forty-Second Street , Avenue Q and Beyond!” is the theme of Peoria Heights’ Todd Hawkins as he leads you around the Scholastic Bowl world of history, geography and general forays into the backstage of social studies.

9. “You Can’t Play Footloose With the Rules!” says State Moderator Jack Small. Lest your Scholastic Bowl season become Les Miserables, and turn into a Little Shop of Horrors, enter with caution and take heed!

Break One: Been Doing the Riverdance All Morning waiting for a break? Now’s your chance! Intermission!

Break Two: It’s Been a Full-Monty of a Day… Make a break for our luxurious powder rooms and mingle with your fellow stars.

Lunch: Food! Glorious Food! And such a feast awaits you as our Broadway caterers delight your palate with scene after scene of gastronomic delights. (Don't worry…we don't serve Spam a lot.)