Abrams,+Leah

Leah Clark-Abrams Lake Mary Preparatory School I am a parent judge. This is my second year judging debate. I have judged at the local and nation levels in individual events, student congress, PF and LD. I have Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Business. I am a Director of Contracts at a Fortune 100 company with 20 years work experience dealing with negotiations and business strategy. In life and in judging debate, I value logical, coherent arguments. I can easily leave my own opinion and prejudges outside and start with a clean slate. That being said, this means you have to convince me of your position with the quality, logic, and evidence to support the points you make in the rounds. I like a fast pace but only if the arguments and points are clear and completely made. Lots of words with no real substance will not impress me or win my vote. I am looking for quality and persuasiveness. True persuasiveness requires more than you simply telling me you are right and that your opponent just doesn’t understand. Trust me, if that is the case I will be able to determine that on my own. You must tell me why your argument wins with substance and consistency. I like passionate arguments but do not like or tolerate overly aggressive, negative, or unprofessional behavior by any party. Be civil, respectful, and engaging. Please argue the points and stay on topic. The goal is to convince me your position is the only one that is reasonable to champion. I would love to end the round and feel strongly about one side of the argument so I could go out into the work and “implement” that position. I believe in giving positive, productive feedback to both individuals participating. I will point out areas of potential improvement in my written evaluations as well as areas that I think were very strong and compelling.