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The Forensics team had a strong performance at the 5A State competition this past weekend and took home fifth place in oration (persuasive speaking) and won State in informative speaking. Along with a state championship, the team greatly improved from the previous year.
“My biggest challenge this year was finding my groove,” sophomore Lauren Stone said. “Last year, I did two acting events, but they didn’t play up to my strengths as well as the speaking events did this year.”
The tournament was held at Emporia High School and the team brought eight students to participate. Those included, sophomores Lauren Stone, Victoria Clark, Madeline Fines, Erica Christie, and juniors Lexi Oatman, Michelle Cowles and Caroline Fronczak, along with senior Jake Novicoff.
“Although I was really sick during the tournament, I still tried my best,” Christie said. “I even managed to make semi’s in DI.”
The tournament was broken up into three-preliminary rounds, then semi-finals and lastly, finals. Novicoff made semi’s in poetry, Stone in informative, Christie in dramatic interpretation and Fronczak in informative and oration; with Fronczak making finals in both her events and going on to win State in informative.
“I haven’t really had any regrets about this season,” Stone said. “I performed as well as I could and with pieces that I enjoy, and besides getting 7th at State, I felt I had a good year.”
The team has made great strides into building their group into a recognizable activity within the school. Stone hopes that this accomplishment will bring attention to the squad and hopefully have them gain more members for next year.
“If people actually understood what forensics was, I’d hope that they would realize that it is an activity where you have control of your success,” Stone said. “If you’re willing to try, you will do well.”
