Students head to nationals for Forensics

Two Allen County schools will compete in the National Catholic Forensics League tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Memorial Day weekend.
Iola High School participated in the Catholic Forensics League tournament in El Dorado on March 7 for the first time in many years. This is the first time Forensics coach Regina Chriestenson has taken students to the tournament.
Junior Catie Venter placed first in oral interpretation literature and prose. Her prose piece is “Miss Alaineus,” which is about a little girl in the fourth grade who thinks miscellaneous is a person. Her poetry piece is a twist on the classic Snow White tale.
Venter has attended state Forensics before but the national tournament is new to her.
“I’m pretty excited about the location of the competition and I have never competed in anything this extensive,” she said.
Senior Trilby Bannister placed first in dramatic performance. Her selection is a humorous piece about a girl who is part T-Rex. She likes a boy in her middle school but students pick on her at a school dance. Bannister said things turn bad after that.
“I’ve always wanted to do nationals for so long and I’m so glad I get to do it my senior year,” she said. “I’m so excited to get first and we competed against a lot of Wichita high schools.”
Chriestenson said she is excited to take her students to the tournament.
“They get this opportunity to see what it’s like in the other states and see a diverse group of performers across the nation,” Chriestenson said.
Marmaton Valley High School will send five Forensics students to the tournament. Clara Boyd placed first in the oral declamation event. Emily Boyd placed first in original oration for the second consecutive year. Emily Boyd teamed up with Payton Wilson to place second in the duo interpretation event. Placing in the same event were Shauna Knight and Mitch Covey. Wilson also placed second in dramatic interpretation.
Wyatt Bolinger and Tanna Lutz also participated in the competition for the Marmaton Valley team.

THE IOLA Forensics team will host their open house on April 29 before state competitions on May 2. These competitions are sponsored by the Kansas State High School Activities Association, and are a separate competition from the NCF competitions.