Finally . . . Forensics
by Gary Leiker
After Mother Nature conspired against them the previous weekend, the Southeast Forensics team finally saw its first tournament competition at Cherryvale and Independence on February 5-6. And for three students, the wait was extra special as they each captured individual honors in the season's first tournament. As a team, Southeast finished fifth out of nine schools at Independence on Saturday.
The weekend's biggest winner was Natasha Hunter who became the team's first state qualifier after her first place performance in Informative Speaking. Natasha has worked the hardest out of everyone so far, and I'm thrilled to see that hard work pay off for her. Her attitude and commitment has been absolutely awesome. Lindsay Shoemaker and Will Bolt both advanced to the final round in Humorous Interpretation finishing fourth and sixth, respectively. Lindsay and Will have a ton of talent and we've only begun to scratch the surface of that talent. I'm confident if they keep it up, even more amazing things will come their way.
A small contingent of students competed in Congressional Debate on Friday night at Cherryvale High School. Though no one placed, it was a great learning experience for the novices. With such a short congress season, it's my hope that everyone will take advantage of every tournament we have so we can get ourselves ready for the district tournament in March. Southeast is recognized as one of the strongest schools in congress, and the students we have competing this year certainly have what it takes to continue that tradition. I'm happy we finally got out to our first tournament, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season. Our next tournament is at Parsons on February 12-13.
