McGehee Headed for Vegas
by Gary Leiker
The Southeast High School forensics squad competed at the South Kansas NFL national qualifying tournament held April 18-19 at Fort Scott High School. Junior Brandon McGehee became the second Southeast student this year to qualify for the National Forensic League National Tournament being held June 15-20 in Las Vegas. Brandon joins Michael Windsor who had previously qualified. As a team, Southeast High School finished in fifth place, with 90 rounds of competition. Fort Scott, Coffeyville, Parsons, and Derby finished first through fourth, respectively.
Competing in Humorous Interpretation against 30 other competitors, Brandon put in strong performances in the four preliminary rounds. After preliminary competition, the top 12 students in Humorous Interpretation advanced to semifinals where they were broken up into two rooms of competition. Competition in Brandon's semifinals room was tough, as four of the six competitors in that room advanced to finals. In finals, Brandon put in his strongest performance at just the right time vaulting himself into first place, and winning himself a trip to Las Vegas later this summer. "I am very happy for Brandon," commented coach Gary Leiker. "He has a lot of natural talent and if he works hard before nationals, he should be able to improve upon his performance from last year's national tournament."
Senior Michael Windsor, competing in the tournament in International Extemporaneous Speaking, accomplished something no Southeast student had ever done before. With his first place finish, Michael qualified to the national tournament in three separate events in the same year. Michael previously qualified in both Student Congress and Lincoln-Douglas Debate. National Forensic League rules stipulate a student can only compete at the national tournament in one event. Michael will compete in Student Congress. "Qualifying for nationals once is tough enough," Leiker said, "but to do it in three different events in the same year is extremely difficult and extremely rare."
Bethany Burns, senior, advanced to finals in United States Extemporaneous Speaking. She ended in fifth place. There were 24 competitors. Sophomore CJ Clauson, competing in Original Oration for the first time this year, advanced to semifinals where she finished in the top 12.
"I am proud of this squad," noted Leiker. "I challenged them at the start of the season to use up all of our entries at the district tournament, and they did. I challenged them try their hardest, and they did. Every one of the students who competed deserves credit for helping us place fifth." Southeast ends its season at the state forensics tournament May 3 in Wichita.
