• Other

The adjudicator downgraded the participants in the overall effect category. The adjudicator justified the downgrade stating that a participant’s clothing choice and gum chewing we unprofessional and distracting. This came to our attention as we re-certified this year and in the training video, it is stated that we should not judge students based on their clothing as we are unsure of their circumstances. We also feel that these comments do not speak to the goal of adjudication to affirm students’ talents rather than point out items that a judge may be biased against. In this particular instance, the comment noted below can be detrimental to the student’s self-perception and self-esteem which does not align with our cultural competence goal of separating personal preferences.

Overall Effect
Score: 4
Is the performance a well-paced, unified presentation? How does each member of the group contribute to the total effect?
It was a fabulous performance! You all worked well together. However, I was distracted because Alexis was chewing gum and Violet’s shirt was so
short that when she raised her arms, I saw her belly. Both of those things are so unprofessional.

The referee committee agreed that the comment about clothing and gum in “Overall Effect” was not appropriate and does not align with our values in WHSFA. We believe restoring a point to that area is justified. We also recommend that the adjudicator be contacted about this comment so this does not happen again. The total score for this presentation should be 25.