By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff writer
Excellence is something that has come to be expected of the Burlington High School forensics team.
The Demons proved it once again April 20.
BHS earned the prestigious “Excellence in Speech” award at the annual Wisconsin State Speech Festival at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The award, given to the top 5 percent of schools at the state meet, is the highest honor awarded by the Wisconsin High School Forensics Association.
This year, 4,937 students qualified to compete in Madison, representing 357 school districts. Students must qualify through both sub-district and district competition, with a maximum of 25 competitors per team.
“It’s amazing,” said Matt Nie, who coaches along with Robbie Twohig. “That’s just awesome that we have such kids operating at such a high level.
“Considering public speaking is the No. 1 fear … to have high school students say, ‘I’m going to public speak competitively’ is pretty awesome.’”
BHS qualified 25 students, who brought home 11 gold medals – with a perfect score of 25 – eight silver medals (scores of 23 or 24) and six bronze medals (scores of 21 and 22).
Receiving a perfect score were Sam Jagodzinski (extemporaneous), Tylee Frederick (four-minute speech), Adyson Dinatale (Moments in History), Casey Roberts (Farrago), Haley Jurecki (poetry), Marah Zinnen (poetry), Colin Carville (prose), Kasey Cragg (solo humorous), Ashley Anderson (solo serious), Emily Dyer (solo serious), and Sammie Koch and Ally Lille (group interpretation).
Silver medalists were: Steven Tolle (demonstration), Eric Beets (four-minute), Bailee Stark (oratory), Emily Creek (oratory), Kellen Caldwell (radio), Mason Hawes (special occasion), Laura Christoph (Farrago) and Michelle Kleitsch (prose).
Receiving bronze medals were: Morgan Tully (demonstration), Harley Windle (demonstration), Lauren Nadolski (moments in history), Katie Crawford (public address), Callum Leemkuil (storytelling) and Alyssa Haglund (prose).
-
-
-
-
-